Swanheart
by the1koolkitty
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a tale of a prince and a Monster Raven. By combining their power, a writer and a duck gave the prince and his princess a happy ending…but can the young writer give the duck and himself one as well? FakirAhiru, MythoRue
1. Introduction and Author's Notes

_**Swanheart:**  
The Duck with a Heart of a Girl_

**By the1koolkitty**

_Summary: Once upon a time, there was a tale of a prince and a Monster Raven. By combining their power, a writer and a duck gave the prince and his princess a happy ending…but can the young writer give the duck and himself one as well? Fakir/Ahiru, OC/OC, Mytho/Rue_

**_Author's Notes:_ This story takes place after the Chapter of Egg and the Chapter of Chick, so obviously, this is my take of the Chapter of Bird. With that in mind, I highly advise not to read this fanfiction if you haven't watched both Chapters, for this is chockfull of spoilers. A lot of the music that accompanies these chapters isn't from ballet or opera and is instead from movie soundtracks or from musical artists, simply due to it fitting very well with the scene, so I apologize to any hard-core ballet or opera fans that may be offended by this. All of the music, however, is instrumental and matches well with the ballet-heavy story line. Music notes and copyrights will follow each chapter. "Swanheart" is the title of a song by Nightwish (one I find is well suited to the Princess Tutu series), and therefore can't be copyrighted to my creativity. And now, without further ado, I now present the story of the duck with the heart of a girl! Those who love stories, gather near.**


	2. Act 27: Another Story

_**Once upon a time there was a young man who started to write a story. This writer had, in another man's story, been a knight whose fate was to be slashed in half because he could not protect his prince with more than words. The young writer, however, changed his destiny thanks to a duck transformed by the storyteller into Princess Tutu, and together, the writer and Princess Tutu gave the old storyteller's tale a happy ending. The prince defeated the monster raven with his princess by his side, and the two departed for the prince's kingdom. The writer did not die as intended and destroyed the machine the tragedy-loving storyteller had used to write so he could finish his town's story himself. Princess Tutu returned to being a duck, but she was not alone as she had always thought she would be, for the writer vowed to always remain by her side. But, although the young writer had started writing new stories, the tragedy-loving storyteller's characters still remained in the world, ready to unintentionally start their stories again…**_

* * *

An old man with long, crazy white hair, wide eyes and dressed in a red traveler's coat and wide-brimmed hat chuckled as he watched the image of a young man writing a story from a spot near the lake in one of his story's gears.

"Now, now, you foolish Knight," he murmured with a wry grin, "don't grow so confident that my tragedy is through just because you destroyed some _hardware_! Yes, I can no longer write…but my stories are still out there, either ready to be continued or yet to be adopted into life…they but need a tiny action to jumpstart them…and the characters I've created won't make it easy for you to change their tragic ends!"

No one ever heard Drosslemeyer's laugh as the gears of the story of life started turning once again.

* * *

**Act 27: Another Story**

**(((The Pastoral Symphony)))**

It was February, a little less than three months since Prince Mytho and Princess Rue left Fakir and Ahiru for Mytho's kingdom and Fakir had started an almost-era of non-magical stories. The sky was beautifully clear considering that the dying brown blades around the icy-cold lake were still tipped with frost. Birds flew around each other and the clouds in a type of casual, love-filled ballet that only true artists could appreciate.

Ahiru the Duck turned to look back at Fakir sitting in his chair on the edge of the lake, writing as usual.

To anyone who hadn't watched Fakir writing, one would think that he was really engrossed with the story in his lap. Ahiru knew better, though; the focused look on the writer's face was due to his determination to make sure no one suffered in the end of his or her story.

'_The men of the books almost cut Fakir's hands off because they were afraid of his power,'_ thought Ahiru. _'Drosslemeyer-san used that power to write horrible stories, and they were afraid Fakir could do the same, even if he may not have meant to. It's like Aotoa said…making stories reality may have casualties…what happened to Fakir's parents was proof enough.'_

Although Fakir merely guided the stories he felt himself writing toward a happy ending as he had with the story of the Prince and the Raven, that alone took a lot of energy and could go seriously wrong if written poorly, even without magic or talking animals.

Sometimes if Fakir was worried about a certain story's ending, he would even ask Ahiru to look over it to make sure no character was left out of a happy ending. Ahiru never knew, however, that Fakir always blamed himself that there was one happy ending he couldn't make himself write…hers.

Fakir looked up from his writing at Ahiru and forced himself to smile at her. The duck gave her version of a smile in return, before returning to swimming around the lake, and Fakir's smile left his face.

'_Ahiru…'_ he thought sadly. _'No matter what I do…I can't seem to guide your story to a happy ending…no matter what I do, your story just won't start up again so I can finish it! And if I write your story from scratch…if I create a conflict and story to do it, as Drosslemeyer did, I could seriously hurt you… or worse…'_

Fakir massaged his temple with the hand not holding his quill, feeling frustrated. _'I know I said, down in the lake of despair, that we should return to our true selves to end The Prince and the Raven… but…'_

Hearing voices, Fakir looked up and turned around, worried someone might get nosy as to his activities. Fortunately, the noise only came from a couple walking together on the path through the trees, and they had no interest in him or Ahiru. The man led the woman in their walk past the lake as he talked with her, the woman laughing happily.

'_Why can't I write you a happy ending after how hard you worked to give everyone else one?' _Fakir asked himself, looking at the couple with what he didn't realize was slight envy._ 'You are a duck…but I can tell you're not happy this way…even though I can't understand you anymore, I still know. You were sad just thinking of giving up the last piece of Mytho's heart and your human form…I can't imagine how sad you must be now…what's more important…letting you be your true self…or making you happy?'_

Fakir tore his eyes away from the laughing couple at last, scolding himself. _'Baka…thinking useless things like that…'_

"Quack?"

Fakir snapped out of his thoughts to find Ahiru had gotten out of the water and had walked up to him on the lakeside. Her blue eyes held concern.

"Quack quack-quack?" Ahiru inquired, which Fakir took to mean something like _"Are you alright?"_

Fakir forced a smile. "I'm fine."

Ahiru didn't seem to believe him, but nonetheless took it as a satisfactory answer and gestured curiously with her wing to the word-filled papers in his lap.

"Quack quack-quack quack quack?"

Nodding understandingly, Fakir reached a hand down to Ahiru; the duck climbed onto his hand and Fakir lifted her up to his shoulder so she could read the story he was writing.

* * *

_**Once upon a time there was a middle-aged lord and lady who longed for a child. Sadly the lady was unable to conceive, and the couple despaired at the thought that they would never know the joy of loving of a child of their own. One night, the lady wished on the brightest star in the sky that someone would allow her to take care of a child, and a kind, wise warrior from a distant land heard her melancholy wish and, taking pity on the lady, came to the castle to speak with her. He told the lady that she could give her a child to take care of, but only if the lady vowed to release the child into the world when the child reached nineteen years of age. Eagerly the lady agreed, and the warrior allowed the lady to adopt an orphaned baby girl whose family had died in a war he had fought in, whom the lord and lady named Celia. **_

_**The young Lady Celia grew older, and as she grew, she became a most exquisite singer. People from all over started visiting the lord and lady just to hear their daughter sing, and upon being dismissed, they returned to their countries and raved about her angelic voice. At last, word of her talent reached a young bandit called Tier, who disguised himself as a servant so that he could sneak outside Celia's room and hear her sing himself. Tier, who held a secret passion for music, doubted highly that someone could have as lovely a voice as the people claimed. He was greatly surprised, however, upon hearing Celia sing the rainy morning of her nineteenth birthday. Tier noticed, however, that her song was full of longing to explore the unknown. "I'm nineteen," her song said. "My birthday's today. A big girl, a woman…a lady, they say…" Hearing her sadness made Tier's heart ache. He had fallen in love with Celia, and, out of love for her, Tier decided to**_

* * *

"How is it?" Fakir asked Ahiru.

Ahiru quacked positively.

"I'm wondering whether or not to have Tier take Celia away or not," Fakir admitted, looking down at his work while eyeing Ahiru discreetly for her reaction. "She was _born_ a lady, and she shouldn't run away from what she is…but she would be unhappy trapped in her parents' home forever."

Ahiru pondered this, before pointing with her wing to the warrior's written conditions. "Qua…quack quack-quack quack quack qua."

Fakir took to mean that Ahiru was pointing out that the warrior gave the lady the chance to have a child while assuming that one day she would one day set her free, and he inwardly admitted that the duck had a point. He felt slightly disappointed, though, because part of him had been hoping Ahiru could indirectly answer his questions concerning them by helping him complete the story of the lady and the bandit. Pushing that disappointment aside, he gave Ahiru a smile and continued writing.

* * *

_**Visit the lord and lady and ask them to set Celia free. Unbeknownst to them, Celia was listening to the discussion outside the grand meeting room, and she was amazed that Tier knew of her unhappiness. Even so, she felt grateful that someone cared enough about her to ask her parents to give her the freedom she longed for. **_

_**The lord bristled at Tier's request, saying that the bandit was in no place to tell him what to do, and ordered him to leave the castle. Tier, furious that the lord wouldn't even consider how lonely and sad his daughter was, unsheathed his sword and pointed it at him as to intimidate him. At seeing him being threatened, Celia ran protectively in front of her father, and Tier stumbled back, not wishing to hurt the woman he loved. Celia pleaded with Tier not to hurt the lord; Tier told her he wasn't meaning any harm toward either of her parents, for he only wanted them to understand that they couldn't keep her trapped in their home. The lady stood up abruptly at the bandit's words and snapped at him that she loved Celia more than anything, and that she knew what was best for her: keeping in her in the palace with her away from pain, heartbreak and suffering. The lady's words prompted a loud creak from the opening doors, and the warrior from so long ago entered the throne room. He was much older, of course, but he still looked as powerful and skilled as he did nineteen years ago. **_

_**The lady quivered, afraid that the warrior would be angry with her and would use his skills against her, and pleaded with him not to make her give Celia up. The warrior, who was very wise, understood the lady's angst, but calmly explained that in order to give Celia a chance to be happy, she would have to be given the freedom to make her own choices and mistakes. While there was pain, heartbreak and suffering in the outside world, the warrior said, there was also love, happiness and hope. Finally the lord and lady were given enough reassurance to allow their darling Celia to leave the palace for the first time. Tier promised the lord and lady to protect her while on her trip out, and while spending so much time with him, Celia fell in love with the bandit. The happiness in her eyes convinced the lord and lady to allow their daughter to do as she wished for the rest of her life, happily ever after.**_

* * *

Fakir headed the story with the fancy title _The Lady and the Bandit,_ and a scrawled number of _"71"_ in the left corner to mark the chapter of the tale of Kinkan Town, before putting his quill pen down and heaving a great sigh.

"Well, Ahiru…ready to head back?"

"Quack," Ahiru assented.

She jumped off of Fakir's shoulder, flapping her small yellow wings so she could land gently on the ground. Fakir tucked his story, quill and ink into his leather bag and tossed the bag over his shoulder before he started to follow Ahiru away from the lake back toward Kinkan Town.

On their way, the writer and duck passed the happy couple from before on the hollowed path, and Fakir resolutely forced himself not to look at them as to avoid feeling the _"useless" _envy he had felt before.

Since the story of the Prince and the Raven had ended, Kinkan Town for the most part had been quiet. Some of Fakir's conclusions to the peoples' stories had caused ripples in the town's life, but none dramatic enough for the People of the Books to peek their noses in. Of course, since Fakir had changed Drosslemeyer's tragedy into a happy ending, the Leader of the group had shown enough gratitude to Fakir for changing his associates back into humans that Ahiru doubted that they would attempt to cut Fakir's hands off again.

As Fakir and Ahiru walked through town back toward Charon's house, they passed Kinkan Academy, the arts school where Rue's, Mytho's and their story began and generally took place.

Ahiru noticed her old friends Pique and Lilie walking through the grounds and talking together, and she felt slight sadness at the thought that they didn't even remember she had existed. Anyone who wasn't knowledgeable about Drosslemeyer's story had forgotten that anything magical had happened, including Ahiru's transformation into a human.

Pique, Lilie and a few other ballet girls saw Fakir walking past and immediately started giggling and talking amongst themselves. Besides Mytho, Fakir had likely been the most popular (and only other talented) male student in the ballet class, so there still remained a _"Fakir faction,"_ even after Fakir had left the academy to work on Kinkan Town's story.

"_Aw_, how _cute_!" one of the girls squealed. "Fakir-senpai has a _pet_!"

"I envy that duck," another murmured, "so close to Fakir-senpai!"

"He must look five _times_ as handsome from that close!" Pique commented.

"Maybe Fakir-senpai is so lonely he thought only a _pet_ could love him!" Lilie suggested in her usual sadistic romanticism. "Oh, the _tragedy_! The _heartache_!"

The girls burst into giggles. Ahiru noticed Fakir rolling his eyes and smiled.

'_Poor Fakir,'_ the duck thought amusedly.

For a reason Ahiru couldn't name, however, Pique's words echoed in her head.

"**_He must look five times as handsome from that close!"_**

Ahiru looked up at Fakir as he continued walking and almost unintentionally felt her feathery cheeks grow warm.

'_Fakir is quite handsome…it really is no wonder he has so many admirers…he's loyal, and strong, and smart…'_

Catching herself in her thoughts, Ahiru scolded herself in quacks, hitting her head with her wings and flapping around in circles.

'_NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! STOP IT! YOU'RE A DUCK! A DUCK! STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!'_

"Ahiru?"

"Qua?"

Ahiru froze, looking up at Fakir, who had stopped in his tracks at the sound of her quacking and was looking at her in confused bewilderment.

"What are you _doing_?" he asked.

Ahiru suddenly felt very embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head with her wing awkwardly.

"Quack-quack!" she said quickly, sounding sheepish. "Quack quack qua…"

Fakir blinked, before snorting, muttering "Baka," and starting to walk again, and Ahiru raced to catch up with him.

They walked in silence for a while simply enjoying each other's company, until Fakir looked back at Ahiru and spoke again.

"Ahiru?"

"Quack qua?"

"Do you ever wonder when the next beginning will come?"

Ahiru seemed confused. "Qua?"

Fakir sighed. "The oak tree said…when I first started talking with her…that _'beginnings are coincidence,'_ and that _'endings are inevitable.'_"

"Quack quack-" Ahiru started to protest, but Fakir interrupted her.

"I know it sounds _grim_…and yes, the oak tree said those things to me when she was trying to absorb me into her bark…but she was still right in the way that all stories are connected. The ending of one story starts a new beginning, and there are many more beginnings before the beginning where one might enter a story…sometimes I wonder…when our next story will truly begin."

Ahiru now understood. _'It is good to think about…our story isn't being written by Drosslemeyer-san anymore…wouldn't Fakir control our story, then? Why hasn't he tried writing it? He's written about me before…'_

"Qua quack quack quack-quack quack?" she tried to voice her question, but unfortunately even if Fakir could've understood her, he had seen something that made him freeze right where he was walking. When Ahiru saw it too, she quacked in a mixture of surprise and fear.

A she-bear standing on her back legs and wearing a motherly dress and decorated Easter hat had just left a hat shop, pulling her cub wearing a sailor suit out behind her with a gentle reminder to stay close to her.

Ahiru looked around and realized that there were other human-acting animals in town as well. A beaver was carving a wood miniature in front of the carpenter's shop for an excitable group of girls; a fox pickpocket snatched a wallet out of a finely-dressed horse's suit pocket; a turtle shop-vender very slowly placed some change into the awaiting wing of his peacock customer.

'_Animals…living like humans…'_ Ahiru thought in shocked disbelief. _'But…there haven't been any since the end of Mytho's story! Fakir hasn't written any stories with magic since then!'_

Fakir looked like he was thinking similarly; his green eyes held a type of angry fear as he looked around the animal-littered square.

"How…how can this _be_?" he whispered.

As if responding to his question, a cardinal flew down onto a branch on the tree Fakir had stopped next to and looked right at him and Ahiru, extending his leg to reveal a letter tied to it.

Fakir's eyes narrowed slightly, before reaching out and untying the letter from the cardinal's leg and unrolling it.

His eyes widened. "It's from Mytho."

"Quack?"

Fakir bent down so Ahiru could read it over his shoulder.

* * *

_**Fakir and Tutu,**_

_**Another magical story has started. I don't know how it's possible, for Rue and I saw you destroy Drosslemeyer's machine, but somehow, it's happened. Almost all of the members in my court are animals, and, as you know, there haven't been any human-like animals since the end of **The Prince and the Raven**. I know not if you've noticed this as well, or if you've done it on purpose while writing one of your stories, Fakir, but I hope that you have some answers to our questions. Rue and I are growing concerned, since you have told me all the stories you have written and are writing have no mention of magic as not to encourage any more stories like ours to spring up.**_

_**I hope you both are well. Our cardinal will stay with you until you are ready to respond, but do answer quickly; I am afraid for Rue if Drosslemeyer has started his tragedy again and wishes to recall the ravens in some sort of revenge.**_

_**Mytho**_

* * *

"Mytho and Rue have noticed as well, I see," Fakir murmured. "So there really _is_ a magical story happening again…it must be very _important_, if Mytho's kingdom is affected as well."

"Quack," Ahiru agreed.

Last time, during _The Prince and the Raven_, only Kinkan Town was affected by Drosslemeyer's story…of course, in _The Prince and the Raven_, nothing even lay beyond the boundaries of Kinkan Town.

'_But what kind of story could be starting?' _Ahiru wondered._ 'And who could have started it?'_

Fakir clenched Mytho's letter in his fist, looking testy.

"Who did this?" he growled quietly. "Who started the story again?"

* * *

Drosslemeyer chuckled as he watched the display of the suspicious Fakir and confused Ahiru.

"Not exactly what you had thought would happen?" he asked in amused scorn. "Maybe the Knight can go back to being useless like he's _supposed_ to be…ah, but what problems will that leave _you_ with, eh Ahiru-chan? Not Princess Tutu, not even a _human_…can you pull off _another_ lucky happy ending?"

He turned to look at another moving gear that held the image of a Nutcracker being thrown out a window by a mischievous little boy.

"_Aha_!" Drosslemeyer said with a delighted clap of his hands. "So _that's_ the story that shall sink further into tragedy…that's an _old_ story, back when I was just starting out as a writer…how on _earth_ can your story grow any _sadder_, Nutcracker Prince? Show me, won't you?"

His chuckles resounded over the clinking, moving gears of his story.

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:****Celia - comes from the Latin for "heaven"**

**Tier - term in architecture and synonym of bank**

**Music Notes:**

"**_The Pastoral Symphony"_: starts at the beginning of the chapter with the cheerful flying of the birds in the sky and by the lake, before moving at 2:15 into Fakir and Ahiru by the lake and fading out into dialogue. As the couple enters, the music at 9:02 (or, for watchers of Disney's _Fantasia_, the music for the introduction of the female centaurs) plays. As Fakir gets up from his spot by the lake and he and Ahiru head through Kinkan Town, the music plays at 20:40 (or, for Fantasia watchers, the music for the celebration of the centaurs and the wine god Dionysus) and ends at 22:55 after the oboe solo. When Fakir starts talking with Ahiru, the music starts at 23:38 (or, for Fantasia watchers, the music leading into Zeus's appearance), and ends at 24:37 (in Fantasia, when Hephaestus passes Zeus a lightning bolt) when the cardinal lands on the tree in front of Fakir. As Fakir crumples Mytho's letter in his hand, the music plays at 26:26 (in Fantasia, when Zeus shakes his head at Hephaestus when offered more lightning bolts) and fades out at 26:48 (in Fantasia, when Zeus pulls a cloud over himself and falls asleep) to the chapter's end.**

**The piece Symphony No. 6 In F Major_ "Pastoral" _(or _"The Pastoral Symphony"_) is by Ludwig Von Beethoven.**


	3. Act 28: The Nutcracker Prince

**_Once upon a time there was a toy soldier made with much care. This toy soldier longed to make every child who played with him happy, and he always did, even as he aged and decayed through the years of love-filled abuse his child owners inflicted on him through their play. At last, when the toy soldier was so fragile no child could play with him, his final adult owner left the toy soldier on a shelf to remind him of his childhood, making the toy soldier unable to make anyone happy, whether others or himself…_**

* * *

**Act 28: The Nutcracker Prince**

**(((The Wardrobe)))**

In the seemingly muddiest and deepest puddle on the largest cobblestone street that cut through Kinkan Town to the town square now lay a small Nutcracker with a large mouth, a gold crown on top of medium gold-brown hair and a red and gold uniform. No one passing by, even if they had noticed the forgotten toy in the mud, would've heard the Nutcracker's cries, for the Nutcracker was not really a toy at all. After all, normal toys don't cry!

"**Please…"** the Nutcracker whispered in anguish. **"Drosslemeyer, you sick wretch…can't you just destroy me and get it over with? I can't take it anymore…must you delight in seeing my life being ruined so?"**

* * *

"_Aw_, poor Nutcracker," Drosslemeyer chuckled derisively as he eyed the image of the Nutcracker in the muddy puddle. "I'd give you some hope so that you can be disappointed _again_, but since my _darling_ descendant decided to break my machine, I can't give you an ending! Ha, ha, ha!"

* * *

"**Please…just destroy me!"** the Nutcracker moaned, invisible tears running down his painted face. **"Burn me! Anything! Just…end my story…please, Drosslemeyer…_please_!"**

* * *

'_Aotoa said that only those who are descendants of Drosslemeyer-san have the ability to write stories that come true…'_ thought Ahiru. _'But Fakir is supposed to be his most direct descendant…could there be someone close enough by blood to Drosslemeyer-san to rival Fakir's power? Or…is something else going on? I don't know…'_

Ahiru was still thinking about the magical story unraveling and Mytho's concerns when she suddenly noticed Fakir turn around as if he'd just seen something interesting behind him.

"Qua?" she asked in concern.

Fakir looked at her as if confused. "Do you _hear_ something?"

"_Qua_?"

Ahiru listened carefully, before she too realized she could hear something…something that sounded oddly like a man crying.

Fakir ran to discover the source of the voice, and Ahiru flapped after him as fast as her small duck legs could carry her.

"**_Drosslemeyer…_"**the voice cried as if in pain, **"must you continue to _torment_ me?"**

Ahiru's eyes widened. Fakir immediately stiffened at the mention of the old storyteller's name, and looked around the street frantically for the source of the mysterious voice.

"Show yourself!" the young writer barked, his eyes and voice filled with suspicion. "I know you're there…now come out _right_ _now_ and tell me how you know Drosslemeyer!"

There was a silence, before the voice whispered in a very quiet, incredulous voice, **"You…you can _hear_ me?" **

"Quack?" inquired Ahiru, meaning to say, _"Who are you?"_

"**I am a cursed man,"**the voice answered Ahiru's question.

"_QUA_?"

"You can _understand_ her?" Fakir demanded, his eyes flaring with distrust.

"**Yes, I can understand her,"** the voice replied in a very mild tone,**"although I do not know _why_, for I have never been able to communicate with animals before, talking or otherwise. I know not how you can understand me, Lady Duck and Sir…but I would be most grateful if one of you could get me out of this puddle; I don't much like having mud in my eyes."**

Ahiru looked around and finally noticed a Nutcracker lying facedown in a very muddy puddle.

She quacked fretfully and rushed over to try and push the Nutcracker out of the mud. Fakir looked astounded, but nonetheless helped Ahiru by picking the Nutcracker up off the ground.

"**My most esteemed thanks,"** the Nutcracker said, sounding genuinely grateful without his mouth or face moving at all. **"May I inquire as to who you are? I have never known anyone who could understand me…are you a wizard?"**

"No," the green-haired writer answered. "My name is Fakir…and the duck's name is Ahiru. I won't tell you anymore of our business unless you tell me how you know Drosslemeyer."

"_Quack_!" Ahiru reprimanded. _'Fakir, you don't have to be so mean!'_

"**It is all right, Ahiru-san,"** the Nutcracker assured her. **"Fakir-san has _plenty_ of reasons to be distrustful of me…but I assure you, my awareness of Drosslemeyer is not because I support his heartless writings."**

"Quack quack-quack qua?" Ahiru asked.

"**I was in his stories,"** the Nutcracker assented. **"I am Prince Helios of the Kingdom of Theia. I was the main character in two of his tragedies…and it is not because I _wished_ to be."**

Fakir raised an eyebrow. "What _is_ your story?"

Helios sighed. **"The first that started my life of misfortune is unlikely to be still in print, as it was written when Drosslemeyer was a young man. It was his first story…his oldest story. It was called _The Nutcracker Prince._"**

Fakir's face scrunched up in thought. "I've never heard of that story."

'_If Fakir hasn't heard of it, then Helios-kun is likely right,'_ Ahiru thought to herself. _'Fakir's read almost every story ever put in the library…'_

"**I shall have to retell it then,"** the Nutcracker commented sadly.

He sighed, before starting to recite the story as if he had memorized it by heart.

"'**Once upon a time there was a prince who longed to make people happy. He was engaged to a princess who was known as the unhappiest woman in the land, for she was always crying. The princess could be pampered endlessly, and yet, the only known thing that had ever been able to make the princess stop crying for an instant was eating nuts. Ever since she was the smallest of children, she had loved them: peanuts, walnuts, pecans…any nut known to man. Upon hearing this, the prince cracked all of the finest and rarest nuts for the princess with the utmost care, trying to make her happy enough to smile just once. However, the prince did not know that the princess was already loved by someone else: a storyteller who had been the princess's childhood friend. The storyteller grew very jealous of the prince trying to make his love happy, and determined to have the chance to marry the one he loved, placed a curse on the prince, changing him into a Nutcracker until someone could love him in the form he was in. The storyteller and the princess married, and they created a happy life together…while the Nutcracker prince, being unable to move or speak, was forgotten by all.'"**

Helios gave a very long sigh, as if every word of the story had put him through intense pain.

"Quack quack _quack_!" murmured Ahiru, her voice filled with regret.

Helios, if he could've moved, likely would've given Ahiru a smile of gratitude. **"Thank you for your sympathy."**

Fakir frowned slightly. "Wait a minute…are you trying to tell me that Drosslemeyer wrote a story to spite you because you were engaged to the woman he _loved_?"

"**Yes," **Helios replied in a very depressed voice. **"What saddens me is that it was apparent I was not in love with the princess…if Drosslemeyer had merely talked to me, I would've been _happy_ to help him…but somehow I think he finds my suffering more _amusing_. From what I can gather, the princess and Drosslemeyer lived very happy lives together and had many children. But Drosslemeyer became obsessed with writing after he wrote my story with only his power, instead of merely finishing stories that had gone into motion, and eventually became so ambitious and heartless with his stories that he drove his family away. Drosslemeyer died alone, without any knowledge about what happened to his family… Yet, only just a year ago, when I was sure he was _dead_…he wrote a _second_ story about my misfortune."**

"Quack quack-quack-quack qua?" asked Ahiru.

"**The _second_ story?"** Helios repeated ruefully. **"Well, it definitely wasn't any better than the _first_."**

He sighed once more and started reciting the second story.

"'**Once upon a time, there was a toy-maker who found an old, broken Nutcracker lying forgotten in the snow around his town square. He did not know, however, that a magical storyteller had cursed this supposed-toy into his form, unable to be human once more until one loved him as the Nutcracker he was. The naïve toy-maker decided to fix the Nutcracker in his shop, and then brought the toy with him to the Christmas party his innocent goddaughter Clara's parents were hosting. The toy-maker gave Clara the Nutcracker for Christmas, and Clara was delighted with her present. She held the Nutcracker with her as if he were her Prince Charming, and as she slept, the storyteller from the far corners of death, longing to make the story more interesting, used his magic to give the Nutcracker life in Clara's dreams. **

"**When Clara was threatened by the horrible Mouse King, the Nutcracker prince defended her and killed the menace. The Nutcracker prince then invited Clara to the Castle of Toys that the toy-maker had created for him at his toyshop. The Nutcracker's friends, the toy-maker's finest toys, performed beautiful dances for young Clara…nothing was ever more beautiful…but after the performances, just when the Nutcracker prince was about to explain to Clara what was happening and who he was, there was a loud bong of a clock. The castle began to dissolve into darkness and the music faded. The Nutcracker prince's touch became cold, he began to shrink and his arms froze in place as Clara awoke in her bed once more at the sound of the grandfather clock chiming seven in the morning, the wooden Nutcracker in her arms. **

"**Innocent Clara, as any normal person would, assumed it was just a wonderful, romantic dream and hurried to get ready for the new day without a second thought. She never noticed that her precious Nutcracker had tears in his painted eyes, neither did she notice her Nutcracker collecting dust in her room in the next months. In fact, no one ever noticed the Nutcracker again.'"**

Helios gave yet another sigh.

"**Since then, my life followed the ending of _The Nutcracker. _Then today, Clara's brother Fritz was playing with his toy soldiers, making them try to destroy the _'Monster Nutcracker,'_ and he accidentally pushed me out the window…and no one cared."**

Ahiru looked very sorry for the cursed prince; even Fakir looked a little less suspicious and more understanding.

"So your story was started again because your ending of not being noticed has been changed, since you're no longer trapped in the house. And obviously, the magic has returned to Kinkan Town because nothing in your story could be considered normal with a _'Mouse King'_ and a curse."

"**I guess so,"** supposed Helios, **"or Drosslemeyer decided to go at it again and make my story a three-part tragedy."**

"Quack!" dissented Ahiru.

"Drosslemeyer no longer holds any control over Kinkan Town," Fakir agreed. "I destroyed the machine that wrote his stories…I'm the writer now."

"**You _are_?"** Helios asked, sounding very surprised. **"But…but you would have to be _related_ to-"**

"I'm the most direct descendant of him, yes," Fakir responded.

"Is that why you know about Drosslemeyer's powers?"

"No. Ahiru and I were in one of his stories…_The Prince and the Raven._"

"**_The Prince and the Raven…"_ **Helios repeated, sounding thoughtful. **"Clara's mother was reading that story to Clara and Fritz not too long ago…are you a prince as well then, Fakir-san?"**

Fakir shook his head. "No…I was the knight. Ahiru was Princess Tutu. We changed the path of the story so that Drosslemeyer couldn't force us to create another tragic end."

Helios's painted silver-gray eyes, if they could move, likely would've widened. **"I bet that's why you two can understand me; you have been subjects of Drosslemeyer's power, the same power that's still keeping me in this form."**

Ahiru then thought of something. _'We did change our destinies…and Fakir is the story's writer now…why can't he give Helios-kun a happy ending too?'_

"Qua!" she tried to articulate her thoughts to Fakir. "Quack-quack quack quack quack quack!"

Helios, who could understand the duck, immediately started to protest.

"**Oh no, Ahiru-san, it's all right! I wouldn't want to force Fakir-san to do anything just because he feels _sorry_ for me!"**

"Baka," Fakir snapped. "You _obviously_ don't want us to just throw you back in the mud and go on our way. Besides, I write Kinkan Town's story now; a story has started because of you, and I intend to _finish_ it."

With that, he slipped Helios securely into his bag. After a minute, the Nutcracker at last whispered a very quiet **"…thank you, both of you." **

"Quack!" Ahiru assured him cheerfully.

Suddenly, during this most optimistic moment, a foreign-sounding chorus of music sounded from not too far away, and Fakir and Ahiru turned to look in the direction of the town square.

"Quack?" Ahiru wondered.

"I don't know," Fakir responded.

Abruptly, a little boy shoved past Fakir rather rudely as he ran ahead toward the town square.

"_Oops_… sorry, sir!" a preteen girl who looked like the boy's older sister apologized for him.

Both Ahiru and Fakir caught a slight, sad groan from Helios and assumed the girl must have been the naïve girl from his second story, Clara. She had curly ebony hair that reminded Ahiru of a black-haired Lillie and a pretty yet rather stupid-looking face that reminded Fakir of a goose.

Clara started to run after her brother Fritz, but Fakir stopped her.

"What's going on?"

"Madame Ruza's troupe just entered town!" Clara explained to him in a tone a lot like that of a very excitable, yipping dog.

"Madame Ruza?" repeated Fakir questioningly.

Clara's dark eyes were very bright as she raved her response, only accentuating her likeness to a goose.

"She's a witch! Her troupe travels all around, giving performances with their magic! They say she's a master puppeteer and performer, and today she's going to make her puppets dance without even moving their strings!"

"_What_?" said Fakir, sounding taken-aback at Clara's last sentence.

He looked ready to ask her to tell him more, but the goose-like girl had already run away, not even noticing her Nutcracker now in Fakir's bag.

"**A _witch_?"** Helios repeated interestedly.

Fakir's eyes narrowed. "There have never been any _witches_ in Kinkan Town before, not even during _The Prince and the Raven_…"

He glanced down at Ahiru. "I think we had better look into this."

"Quack," Ahiru agreed, and the two raced off for the town square.

* * *

"_Madame Ruza_?" Drosslemeyer repeated, looking slightly surprised, before his face cleared up and he laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! So that little fox is still _around_, is she? I thought she already died of _grief_ for that story I wrote for her!"

The image in his gears changed to that of a middle-aged, violet-haired gypsy woman taking a ballerina puppet out of a cabinet in her caravan.

Drosslemeyer laughed again as his gear image went into a close-up of the brown-haired, purple-eyed ballerina puppet in Madame Ruza's hands.

"_Ah_! How are _you_ fairing, Demi-chan? Still miserable, how _marvelous_! This story can be tragic for both you _and_ the Nutcracker! Heh, heh…the Knight will write a story to try and save the Nutcracker from his fate of loneliness…and your hopelessness, Demi-chan, will guide the Knight's story to dance amongst the finest of tragedies!"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:****Helios - name of the Greek god of the sun **

**Theia - name of one of the Greek Titans who was mother of Helios and his sister Selene, the goddess of the moon**

**Ruza - name of a tributary of the Russian Moskva River; name of a Russian town nearby it **

**Music Notes:**

"**The Wardrobe": starts when Fakir yells for the source of the voice to reveal himself and ends as Helios tells of the prince being cursed in _"The Nutcracker Prince."_**

**The piece _"The Wardrobe,"_ is from _"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"_ soundtrack.**


	4. Act 29: Gypsy Performances

_**Once upon a time there was a dancer who longed for attention. Her parents were always busy and never acknowledged her, so she worked to dance the best she could so they would praise her. One day, the dancer walked through town and saw a puppet show. She marveled at the applause the puppets received, and at last decided she wished to be a puppet herself. The dancer met an old witch for help, and the witch granted her wish, and the dancer finally received praise for her art…but, with a puppeteer controlling her, was her dancing really her own?**_

* * *

**Act 29: Gypsy Performances**

**(((Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus)))**

Fakir and Ahiru walked into the Kinkan Town Square to find it entirely swamped with people. Even though Fakir was not a short person, he still found it difficult to look over everyone's heads, and he saw nothing of what was making the onlookers _"ooh"_ and _"ahh"_ as they were.

"Damn it all," he muttered under his breath, moving his head back and forth in an attempt to see better. "What is going _on_?"

Ahiru looked from Fakir to the ankles of the swarm of people blocking them from the action, quacking determinedly and squeezing through the gaps in the legs toward the front.

"_Ahiru_!" Fakir hissed as he shoved past people to follow her, obviously worried that she might get stepped on or get lost in the crowd. "Baka, get _back_ here!"

Ahiru ignored him. When she reached the front of the crowd, she quacked incredulously. Fakir caught up to her and, if he were a duck, likely would've imitated her reaction.

Surrounded by dancing gypsy ballerinas, a band of small clown puppets danced clumsily down the street, tripping over their strings, which were dragging on the ground instead of being moved above them by a human puppeteer.

"'**_Make her puppets dance without moving their strings,'"_** Helios recalled what Clara had said mildly. **"I suppose it is true after all."**

"But where is this _'Madame Ruza?'_" Fakir muttered suspiciously.

"_Quack_!" cried Ahiru, pointing her wing toward the back of the procession.

A middle-aged gypsy woman with dark violet hair, brown eyes and a tan complexion made her graceful way down the cobblestone street. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a beautifully made ballerina puppet with short chocolate hair, blank purple eyes and a white leotard and tutu.

Very abruptly the woman let go of the ballerina as if not concerned about breaking it, but as the puppet fell, it twirled and pirouetted gracefully until it touched the ground and began dancing by itself. While the clowns ahead of it kept tripping over their strings, the ballerina danced flawlessly, avoiding its strings and moving around the clown puppets like a real human prima donna.

The crowd cheered and applauded, and some of the kids started chanting _"Madame Ruza!" _in an excitable, repetitive rhythm.

Fakir scoffed. "What's the point of ballet without personalization by each _performer_? And there's no way that her _'magic'_ is _real_…"

"_Quack_!" scolded Ahiru. "Quack quack quack, quack-quack!" _'It's Madame Ruza's talent that matters; she's really good. And magic's not real? Look who's talking, Mr. Write-The-Story-of-Kinkan-Town!'_

The ballerina puppet gave a great jeté and soared through the air so high her jump reached the height of Fakir's waist, before she touched the ground again, gave a grand five-twirl pirouette and stopped to bow with the clown puppets.

The onlookers burst into applause; even Ahiru clapped her wings together.

"Well, _that_ was a waste of time," Fakir growled, turning to go. "Here I thought this might be something to worry about…but _no_, it's just a traveling puppeteer desperate to _show off_…"

"Quack, _quack_," Ahiru reproached exasperatedly. _'Heaven forbid you have some fun every-so-often, Fakir!'_

"**She's crying,"** whispered a distant-sounding voice from Fakir's bag.

Fakir and Ahiru both looked at Helios in bewilderment.

"What in the world are you _talking_ about?" scorned Fakir. "Ahiru's _fine_."

"**_No, _not_ Ahiru-san,"_** argued Helios, sounding impatient for the first time since the two had met him, before his tone became its usual sad, **"The ballerina…"**

"_What_?"

Fakir turned to look at the puppet as it straightened up by itself, and realized that human tears were falling from its eyes and down its wooden cheeks.

"_Quack_…" Ahiru breathed in sorrowful awe.

Her male friend's eyes were narrowed. "Looks like I spoke too soon…I think I'm going to have to have a talk with this_ 'Madame Ruza.'_"

* * *

Meanwhile, far below the Kinkan Town Square in the dirtiest of sewers, lay the Kingdom of Mice, and that very moment, a funeral was being held. 

A black female mouse with brown eyes and adorned in a black royal cape and crown looked on emotionlessly as a small casket with a gold crown etched on it was lowered into a grave amongst crying and mournful singing.

"We, the Kingdom of the Mice," stated the brown mouse preacher, "now lay to rest our 1,782nd king, King Anatole, and wish him the most restful of deaths. May he find much rotten food and garbage in life after death, and may we live our lives in his memory as we continue under the rule of our noble Queen Nezumi."

A dark brown mouse next to "Queen Nezumi" by the name of Reepicheep looked at her concernedly.

'_Ever since Anatole-san was killed, Nezumi-chan hasn't been the same…she was always so happy and full of life…and now, it's like her heart has grown cold. I know she loved him very much considering they were betrothed…but I have never seen her this…blank before. I haven't even seen her cry…'_

"Thank you, Minister," Nezumi said crisply, stepping forward to take his place at the stand and blocking the new grave from sight. "I _promise_ you, citizens of the Kingdom of Mice, the death of our dear king will _not_ be condoned. I know who is responsible for this crime, and I assure you, he shall be properly _punished_."

The mice applauded her short speech as the Queen left the stand and walked back toward the palace, Reepicheep walking alongside her.

"Your Highness," he whispered to Nezumi so that the citizens they were passing wouldn't hear them, "may I ask how we will _find_ this criminal?"

"Simple," answered Nezumi without looking at him. "You and the Mouse Army will surround and search the town. There will be nowhere for him to hide…"

Reepicheep tried not to gulp at the oddly heartless tone in the Mouse Queen's voice. "And…may I ask who we are _chasing_ for the King's death?"

Nezumi gave him a quick, cold look, before snorting slightly and answering, "The Nutcracker Prince Helios."

* * *

Drosslemeyer laughed as he watched the image of Nezumi and Reepicheep. 

"Oh ho, ho, ho! What do you know? The Mouse King's wife wants _vengeance_! So much for trying to make everyone _happy_, you silly Nutcracker! So determined to protect foolish little Clara and break the curse you didn't think of what _enemies_ you could make…and you can't _run_ from Nezumi's army, can you, Helios-baka? Ahiru-chan and that silly Knight can't protect you from her _forever_! Ha, ha, ha…"

* * *

Ahiru followed Fakir as he walked up to the door of the caravan marked with the large colorful heading _"Madame Ruza and Her Magical Troupe"_ left on the outskirts of Kinkan Town. 

The writer raised his hand to knock, but he froze as a voice from within called,

"Come in, young writer. I am here."

Ahiru quacked in surprise. _'How does she know Fakir's Kinkan Town's writer?'_

"**Well…now we know why people call her a _witch_,"** Helios stated mildly.

Fakir's eyes narrowed in suspicion; he pulled the door open and prudently stepped inside, Ahiru following him worriedly.

The caravan was comprised of two rooms: one large one that you stepped into upon entering the caravan and another that had its door in the left corner hidden by a barrier of beaded, red silk drapes.

The woman known as Madame Ruza was sitting with her back to Fakir in front a round table with a crystal ball in the center and the prima ballerina doll from her performance lying on the edge.

"I see that you have come here to receive answers to your questions," Madame Ruza murmured in a very misty tone, "questions that are _troubling_ you because you are afraid someone might mean you or your friends harm again…"

"If you're so good at _predicting_ things," Fakir interrupted her coldly, "then you know that I don't trust you at all and want to know how you know who I am."

Madame Ruza chuckled quietly as she turned around to look at them.

"Tell you what, Fakir-chan; I'll leave Demi-chan here," she patted the puppet gently, "so Prince Helios can have some fun with her…and you and I can step into my office," she gestured to the room in the left corner, "and _chat_ a little."

Fakir looked Ruza hard in the eye for a moment, before he placed Helios on the table by the ballerina puppet and started to walk toward Madame Ruza's _"office." _

Ahiru made to follow, but Fakir stopped her with a subtle gesture of his hand.

"Stay with Helios and the puppet," the writer muttered under his breath.

"Qua-" Ahiru tried to protest, but the look in Fakir's eyes told her he was asking it of her out of concern for Helios, and she decided to do as he said.

'_I just hope Madame Ruza doesn't try to hurt Fakir…she seems good…but I can tell Fakir's suspicious of her…'_

Madame Ruza held up the curtain for Fakir as he walked into the other room and then, flourishing her hand toward the table and smiling wryly at Ahiru, followed him inside and closed the curtain behind her.

Ahiru looked up at the table, to see magic dust swirling around Helios and the ballerina puppet. Quacking in alarm, she flapped her wings to heave herself up onto the chair and then onto the table beside them.

Helios, while still a wooden Nutcracker, blinked his painted eyes and held his head in his normally immobile hand as he found himself able to move. The ballerina, too, blinked as she found herself to be mobile, and flexed her limbs, before bending her knees in a plié toward Helios and Ahiru as a kind of curtsy. Ahiru gave a "Quack!" of hello and Helios gave a bow in return.

"May I have your name, Ballerina-san?" the cursed prince asked politely.

"Demi," the ballerina puppet answered, giving him another polite plié.

"Demi," Helios repeated as if tasting the name. "I am Prince Helios."

"I know," Demi answered, before rushing to apologize for her slight abruptness, "Madame Ruza called you a prince…I heard her."

Helios smiled at her, obviously not offended. Instead, he held his arms above his head in third position, circling his hands before reaching a hand out to her.

Ahiru smiled; she knew this gesture very well, for she herself had used it as Princess Tutu very often to ask, _"Will you dance with me?"_

Demi appeared uncertain. "I…I'm afraid I'm not very good of a dancer unless Madame Ruza controls my movements."

Helios gave her a reassuring smile. "It's all right. Goodness knows I'm better at _swordplay_ than _ballet_."

Demi hesitated, before she placed her hand in his. Helios stepped back in a chassé derrière as Demi stretched her right leg back in a willowy tondu derrière, before Helios treaded forward with a chassé devant, reached his arms underneath Demi's leg and lifted her up so that she was sitting on his shoulder. The Nutcracker twirled her around slowly before she tilted off of his shoulder and he caught her and placed her back on the ground.

As she watched their shy pas de deux, Ahiru noted how well their movements matched each other's. Helios's movements were stiff like that of a soldier and held much sadness, but were helpful and proper; Demi's, while untrained and hesitant, held a look of gentleness and dedication.

'_They look like Mytho and Rue-chan…'_ Ahiru thought, feeling sad both out of missing her friends and of regret she couldn't dance with everyone herself, _'their movements match perfectly…and they're putting all their hearts into their dance, too…'_

* * *

"Now," Fakir growled tersely, crossing his arms and glaring at Madame Ruza, "tell me what this is all about." 

The gypsy witch looked at the young writer seriously. "I am a player in this new story, but I am no _villain_. I mean no harm to you nor your love, Fakir-chan."

Fakir's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, _'love?'_"

"Don't play coy with _me_, Fakir-chan," chided Madame Ruza, sitting in a red armchair in the corner. "I know _very_ well of your feelings for Ahiru-chan."

Fakir went red, but his face still retained anger. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Silly boy," Madame Ruza teased gently. "Still determined not to reveal your so-called _'secret'_ until the most dramatic of moments? You're a true writer."

"How do you know about my writing?" Fakir asked tersely. "You haven't answered my questions."

"Questions you _assume_ I know," Madame Ruza stated amusedly. "Fortunately for _you_, I do. To the one you articulated, I have studied magic for years, as that is part of the character Drosslemeyer made me to be. To the ones you have _not_…I left Demi-chan and Prince Helios alone together because I know you want to break the curse on the Prince, and Demi-chan may be able to help him with that. I came to this town because I was looking for business, since my husband and sons' deaths at Drosslemeyer's hands have left me _penniless_, and upon my arrival, I learned you would be coming to confront me. Demi-chan was crying because she is no ordinary puppet, as I'm _sure_ you realized. Finally, I am here to _assist_, Fakir-chan. I can only do so much, but I do not wish to hinder your story."

Fakir snorted. "I'm still not sure if I trust you."

"I knew you wouldn't," Madame Ruza replied wryly, "especially since I mentioned your love for Ahiru-chan."

"I am _not_ in love with her!" Fakir snapped, but his blush contradicted his words.

Madame Ruza gave a laugh, before her face grew serious. "Have you decided what to do with her story yet?"

"I thought you knew everything?" scorned Fakir.

"I never _claimed_ to know everything," Madame Ruza pointed out. "Magic only allows so _much_. You write stories…you should know endings aren't etched in stone. I can only see little beyond the present."

Fakir scowled at her. "Really? Then in _that_ case, anything to do with Ahiru's story is none of your business."

* * *

"May I inquire as to the circumstances that you _became_ a puppet, Demi-san?" Helios asked mildly as he and Demi continued their dance. "If you were _really_ a puppet, you would not show emotions such as uncertainty. Were you cursed?" 

"_Cursed_?" repeated Demi, going back in a chassé derrière and her feet moving to third position so she could glide past the Nutcracker in a jeté. "No. I chose this."

"_Qua_?" quacked Ahiru, sounding a bit horrified.

Helios also seemed surprised as he gave a tours en l'air, twirling in mid-air as he jumped over to her side, and held his arms out to her to tell her to explain.

Demi sighed, arching her arms into third position and circling her leg in the air in a rond de jambe. "When I was a child, I saw one of Madame Ruza's puppet shows…all the children watching her were so _happy_…"

Moving in a demi-plié and gliding in a sad glissade, Demi danced en pointe over to him, her arms stretched out on either side of her in second position.

"I wished to make people happy like that…but no matter how hard I practiced, no matter how much work I put into my dancing…no one ever noticed me."

She put a hand to her heart and arched her other arm to gesture toward the sky as she stepped back in another chassé derrière, her head back in sad memory.

"One night, I wished on a star to be a puppet myself, so I could dance on Madame Ruza's stage and be appreciated like all her puppets were…Madame Ruza heard me, and she used her magic to grant my wish…"

The ballerina puppet's arms arched up into third position, her eyes traced with tears and her legs bending into a concluding plié.

"…And here I am."

Ahiru's ocean-like eyes filled with pity. _'She gave up everything just so she could make others happy? She's just like Helios-kun…'_

Helios stared at her sadly for a moment, before he moved toward her in a chassé devant, his hand extending to touch her cheek. "By trying to make others _happy_, you have sacrificed everything you were and can be…I just cannot see how that is _right_. One with will should always have the chance to fulfill their will."

"Quack," agreed Ahiru.

Demi looked sadly at Ahiru and then Helios, her arms resting in first position. "Well, if _I_ can't make others happy…at least Madame Ruza makes it possible for others to be happy _because_ of me…but yes, sometimes I hate being so _helpless_…"

Ahiru could easily empathize. When Mytho's incomplete heart was being consumed by the Monster Raven's blood, she felt useless also, as all she could do was return pieces of his heart to him as Princess Tutu.

Helios's gray eyes grew sad as he removed his hand from her cheek and brought to his heart. "I understand your wish, Demi-san…a long time ago, I tried to make the woman I was betrothed to happy…and a magical storyteller, who loved my fiancée and was jealous, transformed me into what you see before you."

Demi's eyes held empathy. "I'm sorry. Even if your fiancée's love was jealous of you, you meant well."

Helios gave her a sad, but grateful, smile. "It has been a very long time since one has truly understood my feelings…it is something I have missed."

The two held eye contact in silence. Ahiru smiled a duck smile, knowing full well that their feelings were not simply of friendship.

'_Maybe Fakir can give both of them a happy ending!'_ she thought to herself excitedly. _'Demi-chan likes Helios-kun, I can tell…she'll break the curse on him, and then maybe we can change her back into a human!'_

Suddenly Demi and Helios froze where they stood, their eyes becoming blank once more; Demi fell flat onto the table.

"_Quack_!" Ahiru quacked in alarm, rushing over to them. "_Quack_! Quack-quack!"

"**Madame Ruza's magic has ended,"** Helios realized sadly, his mouth no longer moving. **"I can no longer hear Demi-san…probably because it is Madame Ruza keeping her this way, and not Drosslemeyer."**

"My apologies, Prince Helios," Madame Ruza apologized gently as she opened the curtain to enter the room once more. "My magic only lasts so long…I'm sure you were having a lot of fun talking with Demi-chan."

Fakir came into the room behind her, his eyes flashing in her direction. Ahiru wondered if Madame Ruza had said something wrong in his _"chat"_ with her.

"We'll take our leave, then," the young writer stated coldly, grabbing Helios and putting him back in his bag before opening the caravan door. "Come on, Ahiru."

"Quack," Ahiru assented, flapping after him as he walked out the door.

* * *

"Your Majesty," one of the mouse generals reported to Queen Nezumi in the sewers below Kinkan Town, "we've located the Nutcracker Prince. He's staying with a young man by the name of Fakir at the antique seller Charon's house." 

"Excellent," Nezumi murmured, her eyes shining with dark satisfaction. "Gather the troops! We capture that Nutcracker tonight!"

"_Tonight_, your Majesty?" the mouse general repeated, sounding surprised. "But my Queen, with all due respect, we have not prepared any _plans_ or-"

"I don't care," Nezumi retorted, eyeing him with such a ferocious look no one would defy her word. "I want that Nutcracker's head. You need no plan to capture a wooden _doll_…so do as I command and capture him _tonight_!"

The general saluted fearfully. "Y-yes, your Majesty!"

Reepicheep started to follow the other members of the Mouse Army out of the sewers, but looked back at Nezumi worriedly as he marched.

'_What has happened to you, Nezumi-chan?'_

Nezumi caught Reepicheep's look, and the bodyguard quickly looked away, not noticing the odd red glint in the Mouse Queen's eyes as she watched him leave.

* * *

"My, my, this is interesting," Drosslemeyer chuckled as he watched gear images of the concerned Reepicheep and the heartless Nezumi. "It seems the Nutcracker isn't the _only_ one in trouble…could you and that worthless Knight _possibly_ give a happy ending to Demi-chan, Helios-baka _and_ the mice, Ahiru-chan?"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:**

**Demi - French for "half"; used in many ballet movements**

**Nezumi - Japanese for "mouse"**

**Reepicheep name of the mouse character in C. S. Lewis's "Prince Caspian" and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"**

**Anatole - the title mouse character of Eve Titus's children's books **

**Music Notes: **

**"_Mother Ginger and the Clowns"_: starts at the beginning of the chapter, with Demi's solo starting at 1:05, Fakir's comment of ballet needing personalization at 2:20 and Demi's final pirouette starting at 3:22.**

**"_Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus"_: starts when Madame Ruza places magic on Demi and Helios, pauses for Fakir and Madame Ruza's talk at 1:32, and ends after Ahiru thinks of a happy ending for both of them.**

**The piece _"Mother Ginger and the Clowns" _is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet _"The Nutcracker."_**

**The piece _"Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus,"_ is from _"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"_ soundtrack. **


	5. Act 30: The Disappearance

_**Once upon a time there was a girl. She was beautiful, kind and intelligent, yet when she was born, a fortune taller had predicted her future, saying that she would be the main character of a story and then be killed by a team of two. Determined to prevent their daughter's death, her parents locked her away in her room and killed anyone that came near. Eventually, the parents became so bitter of their precious daughter barring them from normal lives, that they killed her themselves. But was the daughter's fate written by her slavery or by her parents' protection?**_

* * *

**Act 30: The Disappearance**

**(((The Invisibility Cloak and the Library Scene)))**

Night had fallen, and Fakir was still at his desk, his quill just barely touching the paper on the dark wood as he tried to continue Helios's story.

'_Why can't I make myself write…?'_ he thought in aggravation, resting his forehead on his left hand as his left elbow rested on the desk.

He looked back at Ahiru lying on a blanket folded at the foot of his bed, and smiled slightly seeing her peacefully dreaming face.

"**It is late, Fakir-san,"** murmured Helios from his spot on the left corner of his desk. **"Maybe you should end your session and resume work in the morning."**

Fakir sighed and put down his quill, biting back a yawn. "I think that might be a good idea, at this rate…"

He got up from his chair and headed toward the bed, before stopping as if he'd remembered something and looking back at Helios.

"**I am not physically able to sleep,"** Helios answered his unspoken question. **"But do not concern yourself, Fakir-san. Daydreaming can sometimes be more enthralling than actually dreaming…believe me, I have had **_**plenty**_** of practice."**

Fakir nodded understandingly, before pulling the blankets up gently as not to disturb the sleeping Ahiru, climbing under them and turning over to fall asleep.

Helios sighed to himself as he watched Fakir and Ahiru sleep. _'But daydreams are much easier to fall out of…'_

His thoughts turned to Madame Ruza's ballerina puppet, Demi; if the Nutcracker's face weren't inanimate, he likely would've blushed lightly.

'_Demi-san is very kind-hearted, and very beautiful…but she is so hesitant. It is like she fears to try anything out of her normal life. Then again, I suppose we all could relate to that once and a while.'_

There was a sudden scratching near the wall that made Helios's heart skip a beat, but the prince ignored it, knowing any normal noise sounded scarier at night.

'_Her dancing was full of longing, as if she wishes for more than what she has…so why is she still a puppet? Madame Ruza could hold no power over her if Demi-san was determined enough…what am I saying? Of course Demi-san is not determined enough to fight back against Ruza's power…why would she fight back against something that makes everyone happy?'_

There was a quick scuttle across the floor. Helios's sight went toward the spot and swore he could've seen something, but forced it from his mind.

'_Stop it, Helios…don't let yourself get spooked because of some noises. You are not a little child scared of the dark.'_

Another scurry came from around Fakir's desk; if Helios could move, he likely would've jumped.

'_But…but that sound…'_ he thought fearfully. _'It sounds just like…'_

* * *

_**Tiny furry black-brown creatures scampered around little Clara, cutting her off from the doorways. The young girl was shaking all over in terror. **_

**'I've got to help her!' _Helios thought. _'I've got to save her from the-'**

* * *

'_Mice,'_ Helios realized.

And with a scuttling sound and a crowding of mice around the left corner of the desk, the Nutcracker was gone.

* * *

_**The mist around the lake was so dense and dreamy that it almost cut the lake off from the rest of the world. Ahiru stepped toward the lake and looked at her reflection in its waters.**_

'**Hmm…my true self…a duck.'**

_**Gentle music suddenly became apparent, and Ahiru looked up to see a male figure dancing on the lake in the distance.**_

'**Fakir?'_ the duck realized, noting the figure's long hair and tall frame._**

_**Fakir's arms bent inward toward his heart, his head bowed as if in pain, as his leg circled back en dehors and then returned to the ground so his feet were in third position.**_

'**Fakir's…in pain?'_ Ahiru thought in both alarm and worry._**

_**She flapped over to him, but as soon as her webbed foot touched the water, she felt herself growing until she was tall enough to see Fakir as a human would.**_

_**A human…**_

_**Ahiru looked at her wings, to find they weren't wings at all; they were hands.**_

'**I'm a girl again…?' **

**_She looked at her reflection; she looked just like she had as a girl, although her long red hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a very pale yellow dress with a wide skirt. She no longer wore her Princess Tutu pendant, though; in its place was a necklace with a pendant of two extended white-feathered wings._**

_**Ahiru tried to call out to Fakir, but her voice stuck in her throat as Fakir turned to her. His emerald orbs held a similar pain to that Ahiru had seen so many times in Mytho's eyes before his heart was returned to him.**_

**'Fakir,' _Ahiru thought, her heart aching at the look in his eyes. _'What is making you hurt so much?'**

_**Before Ahiru knew what was happening, Fakir had moved gracefully to her side, moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her tenderly.**_

_**Ahiru blushed. **_**'F-Fakir?'**

_**His arms were warm, just like they had been when Fakir had picked her up as a duck so long ago when she was crying for him; Ahiru involuntarily relaxed into his touch. **_

_**Just then a teardrop fell from above Ahiru's head, landing on the lake's surface with a very tiny splash. **_

_**Ahiru looked up in worry at Fakir, whose eyes were wet with tears of unfulfilled dreams, but whose mouth was still forced upward in a smile of normality.**_

'**Fakir…!'**

* * *

"_Quack_!"

Ahiru woke up with a start on the edge of Fakir's bed at Charon's house.

'_Ah…'_ she thought to herself in relief. _'Just a dream…'_

She looked to the head of the bed, to find Fakir was still asleep, his head underneath his covers.

'_Good thing he's such a hard sleeper!'_ Ahiru thought with a smile.

The duck looked up at the window to find sunlight pouring through it.

'_It's already morning,'_ she thought. _'I'm surprised he hasn't woken me up already! I guess he worked late last night on Helios-kun's story…'_

"_Fakir_!" Charon's voice called from downstairs. "_Ahiru_! Time for breakfast!"

Ahiru jumped off the bed, ready to go downstairs, but noticed Fakir hadn't responded to Charon's voice at all.

The duck climbed up onto the edge of the bed and found the edge of the blankets before ducking under them to find Fakir underneath.

"Quack," she told her friend quietly as she scurried around his arm and toward his face. "_Quack_."

Fakir moaned in his sleep, turning over so that his back was facing her. Ahiru snorted in slight irritation.

"_Quack_," she scolded as she climbed over his shoulder so she was facing him again. "Quack-quack…_QUACK_!"

Fakir had shoved her off the bed, pulling the covers around him more tightly and growling in annoyance.

"_Quack-quack_!" Ahiru snapped, flapping back up onto the bed and starting to peck at his head underneath the covers. "Quack, quack, quack, quack, _quack_-"

"_Alright_!" retorted Fakir as he pulled the covers off of himself and glared at her. "I'm _up_! You happy?"

"_Quack_…" Ahiru answered in an irked fashion.

"C'mon you two!" called Charon from downstairs. "Breakfast!"

Fakir eyed the door in confusion, before he rubbed his eye and looked at Ahiru in slight regret. "Ah…I see. You were calling me for breakfast?"

"Quack."

"Sorry."

Fakir climbed out of from under the blankets, stretching slightly.

"I guess I just worked too late last night…threw me off schedule."

"Quack quack-quack quack?" inquired Ahiru.

"I was working on Helios's story," Fakir replied, guessing her meaning.

Ahiru nodded with a quack, and Fakir assumed she had figured as much.

"It's harder than I _thought_ it would be," he commented. "I suppose it's because I've never been able to write a story about someone I knew _personally_…except for _you_, obviously."

"Quack…"

'_That's understandable,'_ Ahiru thought to herself. _'Fakir wasn't even able to write about Mytho during the Prince and the Raven, even if he wanted to…'_

Fakir stood up, smiling at Ahiru before turning his head to look toward his desk. "I suppose you can't _eat_ either, H-?"

He stared. Helios wasn't in the place he'd left him last night.

Ahiru's eyes widened, realizing something was wrong. The writer rushed over to the desk, looking behind it and around it, trying to find the Nutcracker.

"_Helios_! Where are you?"

"Quack?" Ahiru called, flapping around other parts of the room. "Quack-quack!"

At finding no trace of him, Fakir jerked down the stairs, Ahiru behind him, to find the middle-aged antique seller that was Fakir's guardian, Charon, putting breakfast on the table.

"_Charon_!" Fakir said, his voice coarse. "Did you do anything with the Nutcracker I brought in here yesterday?"

Charon blinked. "No…Fakir, what is this a-?"

"No time to explain!" Fakir interrupted him, brushing past him and running out the door as if he was in a marathon.

"_Quack_!" cried Ahiru, taking off after him. "Quack quack-quack qua?"

"We're going to Madame Ruza's," Fakir growled his answer, not slowing his running pace.

"Quack?" asked Ahiru.

"Either she _did_ something, or she's such a _show-off_ she already knows what's going on!" Fakir answered crossly.

The writer paid no mind to the stares the townspeople were giving them as he and Ahiru ran in the direction of Madame Ruza's caravan. Of course, to be fair, a teenager running through town in only a nightshirt and shorts and being followed by a duck would look strange to anybody.

When they reached Madame Ruza's caravan door, Fakir didn't even knock; he just threw the door open.

"Out with it, Ruza!" he snapped at the middle-aged witch. "Where is he?"

Madame Ruza looked up at Fakir from her spot at the table in the main room. She was holding Demi in her hands, obviously trying to untangle some of her puppet strings.

"You think just because I'm a witch and I know you're _coming_, I don't deserve _courtesy_, Fakir-chan?" Madame Ruza inquired lightly.

"Don't play games with me, Ruza," Fakir snapped, his eyes flashing. "_Where is Helios_? I know you know."

"I do," Madame Ruza admitted. "I knew this would happen, I admit it."

"_Quack_?" Ahiru quacked in surprise.

"And you didn't _say_ anything," Fakir hissed vehemently, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I _knew_ you couldn't be trusted."

"I told you, Fakir-chan, I am no villain," Madame Ruza stated calmly. "You wanted the story to _progress_, didn't you? If so, your protection of Helios had to be _lifted_. You couldn't hope to do _anything_ while he was trapped in your house, just as Helios couldn't have escaped his fate at the end of _'The Nutcracker,'_ if Fritz hadn't knocked him out the window."

There was a slight silence in which Fakir and Madame Ruza held eye contact, Ahiru looking worriedly from Fakir glaring with nothing less than contempt, to Madame Ruza eyeing him in a mildly reproachful way.

"Where is he?" Fakir demanded once again, but in a quieter voice.

"He has been taken by Queen Nezumi's army into the Kingdom of Mice," Madame Ruza replied mildly.

"Quack?" asked Ahiru, sounding confused.

"The Kingdom of Mice?" Fakir repeated, echoing her question.

Madame Ruza nodded. "It lies far below Kinkan Town, in the dirtiest of sewers…and, obviously, is inhabited by mice."

"Qua quack?" Ahiru inquired.

Obviously knowing enough of the future to know the duck was asking why, Madame Ruza explained, "Queen Nezumi is consumed by the grief of losing her husband, the Mouse King Anatole."

Fakir's eyes widened. "_The Mouse King_…"

* * *

"_**When Clara was threatened by the horrible Mouse King, the Nutcracker prince defended her and killed the menace…"**_

* * *

The writer's eyes narrowed. "Helios, that _baka_! Why did he have to kill him in the _first_ place? Making things _difficult_…" 

"Because Drosslemeyer _wanted_ him to," Madame Ruza pointed out. "Drosslemeyer makes _everything_ appear less complicated than it really is. Drosslemeyer made Prince Helios see King Anatole as an evil mouse trying to kill the innocent Clara, while King Anatole saw something else entirely."

"Quack-quack!" Ahiru told Fakir determinedly, miming writing and then herself. "Quack quack quack, quack quack!"

Fakir stared at her, looking uncertain. "You want me to write about you again to save Helios? Are you _sure_?"

Ahiru nodded with another resolute "Quack."

Fakir smiled and gave her a single, supportive nod. "All right, Ahiru. We'll combine our power again, then."

"Quack," agreed Ahiru, giving a duck's smile.

Madame Ruza's head shot up right then as if she had heard something, and turned in the direction of Demi.

"What's that, Demi-chan?"

She listened for a moment before scolding, "_What_? Demi-chan, what _nonsense_ you're spewing this morning! It's _much_ too dangerous, you're too-" she stopped as she had been interrupted. "You're a _ballerina_, Demi-chan, not a _soldier_!" she paused as if listening again, before heaving a great sigh and muttering, "Oh very _well_, Demi-chan…if you're _so_ determined to go off and be a heroine…"

The witch reached into a pouch on her belt and sprinkled a large handful of magic dust on the ballerina puppet, and Demi twitched and stretched, smiling at being able to move again.

"Thank you, Madame Ruza," she murmured, giving her classic curtsy-like plié.

Madame Ruza scoffed gently, taking a pair of scissors and cutting off her strings so Demi wouldn't continue to trip on them. "Nonsense, dear…it's what I do."

She then took the bag of magic dust off her belt and tied the strings around Demi's arms so the bag could rest comfortably on her back like a backpack.

"Sprinkle the rest of that on the prince when you find him," Madame Ruza told her. "But remember, my magic only lasts so long…I think you will only have an hour, judging by how much dust I put on you."

Demi nodded, before turning to Ahiru.

"Should we go then, Ahiru-chan?" she asked hesitantly.

The small duck quacked positively in response.

The ballerina puppet leaped from the table in an imperfect sauté. Ahiru leapt after her onto the floor, before the two raced outside to find an entrance to the sewers. Meanwhile Madame Ruza placed a quill and some paper on the table, and Fakir sat down and started to write.

* * *

"So the duck and the puppet start off to rescue the prince from the Mouse Queen!" Drosslemeyer crowed. "And the knight sits around _writing_…seems _useless_ at first glance, but _no_! The useless knight never _can_ seem to fulfill his role, can he?"

His eyes traveled from the gear image of Fakir, to the gear image of Ahiru and Demi climbing down a wire ladder into the murky sewers and finally to the gear image of Nezumi glaring heartlessly at a rope-bound Helios.

"Oh, the story unwinding! What _action_! What _adventure_! What _foolishness_! Can you rescue Helios-baka from Nezumi, Ahiru-chan? Or, more _importantly_, can you rescue Nezumi from _herself_? Heh, heh, heh…"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"**_The Invisibility Cloak and the Library Scene_": starts as Fakir falls asleep. The mice's first scuttle is at 0:41. Helios is taken at 1:04, and the scene moves to Ahiru's dream. Ahiru notices Fakir at 1:17. Fakir's tear falls at 2:30; Ahiru looks at him, and the dream ends at 2:36, where the music pauses, and then picks up again when Fakir turns to look at his desk and sees Helios is missing. The music ends after Fakir bursts into Madame Ruza's caravan.**

"**_Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters/The Journey to Hogwarts"_: starts when Charon calls Ahiru and Fakir down for breakfast. Fakir pulls covers off himself at 0:39, and the music ends as Fakir apologizes at 0:52.**

"**_Diagon Alley/Gringotts Vault":_ starts when Madame Ruza sprinkles the magic dust on Demi. Madame Ruza warns her of the lack of time at 0:25, Demi jumps off the table with Ahiru at 0:32 and the music stops at 0:36 as the two run out the caravan door.**

**The pieces _"The Invisibility Cloak and the Library Scene,"__"Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters/The Journey to Hogwarts," and "Diagon Alley/Gringotts Vault," _are from the _"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" _soundtrack.**


	6. Act 31: The Kingdom of Mice

**_Once upon a time there lived a warrior. The warrior considered himself the most upstanding citizen in the land; he disciplined criminals for their misdeeds, killed wizards to break curses on people and slew dragons to save damsels in distress. The warrior was sure everyone would love him by the time he died. But could everyone love him…even the victims of his justice?_**

* * *

**Act 31: The Kingdom of Mice**

**(((The White Witch)))**

The scene was set; upon a raised platform now sat Helios, bound with twine to a wooden stake. The citizens of the Kingdom of Mice were gathered around the platform, squeaking and rustling about curiously. Queen Nezumi, adorned in a regal red cloak and a gold and ruby crown, stepped up a set of stairs to the platform and walked coldly up to the Nutcracker, loyal Reepicheep behind her.

Reepicheep eyed Nezumi in concern as the Queen reached out a clawed paw to touch the Nutcracker's wooden cheek.

"Behold," she proclaimed very icily toward her citizens, "the Nutcracker _Prince_."

The mice began muttering amongst themselves angrily.

Nezumi's raised paw slapped across Helios's cheek, leaving four slash marks where her claws had met with wood. If Helios could've moved and his face were of flesh, he likely would have cried out in pain and been bleeding.

"Tell me, Nutcracker," Nezumi stated in a cold, carrying whisper. "Do you know what happens to those who injure a mouse?" she paused for a moment, her eyes becoming quite red indeed, and then shouted, "They _die_!"

There was some shouted assent from the audience of mice, but some mice were looking a little frightened now.

"A-after his _trial_, of course, my Queen," a white mouse advisor added quickly, noticing the fear from some of the public.

Nezumi gave the white advisor such an angry red glare that all the advisors shrank back, and even Reepicheep couldn't stop himself from giving a very slight tremble. The Mouse Queen did not challenge the white advisor's remark, however; instead she turned back to the Nutcracker with a wicked smile.

"_Yes_…of _course_," she murmured. "We must honor the law…so, Nutcracker…what do you have to say for yourself?"

Of course, Helios couldn't answer in a way Nezumi could understand.

"**I never meant to cause you such _pain_!"** the Nutcracker implored the Queen frantically. **"I was only trying to protect _Clara_…she's so naïve, she couldn't have defended herself to your _husband_, or anyone else!"**

No matter what Helios tried, his explanation of his actions couldn't be heard by any of the mice.

"_No_?" whispered Nezumi, smirking heartlessly. "You have no defense for your actions? Very well, then…you're _guilty_. And for that…you shall _die_!"

* * *

"Quack!" Ahiru assured Demi as the ballerina hesitantly prepared to jump from the wire ladder down to the sewer floor.

Obviously intimidated by the height of the jump, Demi took a deep breath, before leaping with another less-than-perfect sauté to the ground beside Ahiru…

Or, rather, on top of Ahiru.

"Oh my gosh!" Demi whispered worriedly, climbing off of her and checking her quickly for injuries. "Are you all right, Ahiru-chan?"

"Quack," Ahiru assented, although her face held a look of slight pain from the ballerina puppet's weight on top of her.

Demi gave her a small, regretful smile as the two continued their way down the sewer pipe.

"I'm sorry…I wasn't kidding when I said I'm not very good unless Madame Ruza's controlling my strings."

"Quack, quack," Ahiru told her, waving a wing in a dismissive way, gesturing to herself and giving an extra-clumsy pirouette. "Quack quack, quack quack!"

Demi giggled. "I guess you can relate?"

Ahiru nodded with another sheepish quack.

Demi looked like she was thinking. "You and Fakir-sama were in _The Prince and the Raven_, right Ahiru-chan?"

"Quack," assented Ahiru.

"And you two stopped your destinies in the story from coming true?"

"Quack."

"Hmm…" Demi looked at her feet in awkward sadness.

"Quack-quack?" Ahiru asked her concernedly.

Demi shook her head. "I was just thinking…if you and Fakir-sama could escape Drosslemeyer's control and take control of your own story…why couldn't _I_?"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "But you guys _hated_ Drosslemeyer and his love of unhappy endings…I don't _hate_ Madame Ruza. She has been kind to me…she's not a bad person. And my fate isn't as sad as the fates you and Fakir-sama had."

"Quack quack," Ahiru disagreed gently, gesturing to Demi and tracing a line from her eye to mime crying, "quack-quack quack qua."

"Yeah, I'm not happy," Demi murmured sadly, "but…at least everyone _else_ is. Isn't that what _everyone_ should wish for, happiness for others?"

Ahiru frowned, thinking of Edel sacrificing herself so she could save Fakir and lead her and Mytho away from the underground lake where the Tutu-dressed Ahiru had confronted the Kraehe-dressed Rue.

"**_I just wanted to try imitating a human heart,"_** the puppet had said to Ahiru as the bright, warm fire burned her body, discharging her soul from the wood.

Ahiru felt her eyes well up with small tears at the memory. _'Edel-san did it to help us…to be human just once…but Demi-chan's not like Edel-san. She was human, and she has feelings! Shouldn't she feel happiness too, like Mytho did after he got his heart back?'_

Demi stopped abruptly. Ahiru came back to earth, looking ahead to see the large pipe they were walking down split into two smaller ways.

"Quack _qua_…" Ahiru whispered, meaning to say _"Oh no…"_ but being unable to speak in a way humans could understand.

Demi looked very upset. "Which way do we _go_?"

* * *

Madame Ruza came back from looking out the window at where Demi and Ahiru had been, looking over Fakir's shoulder as he wrote.

"'_The duck…and the puppet…'_" Fakir read his words as he wrote them, "_'stopped in their journey…however…when they reached a crossroads…in the maze of pipes…'_"

His eyes narrowed in irritation. "Damn it!"

As his hand continued to move, the writer's thoughts moved to Ahiru.

_'Maybe I can reach her like I did in The Prince and the Raven…'_

"_Ahiru_!" he muttered, closing his eyes and forcing his thoughts on nothing but the yellow duck. "Can you hear me?"

* * *

Fakir's voice suddenly rang out in Ahiru's head, making her jump.

'_I'm here, Fakir!'_ the duck thought in his direction.

She heard Fakir sigh in relief. _"Good…I can still hear you when I'm writing a story about you."_

* * *

'_Fakir, the pipe has split in two and we don't know which to go down,' _Ahiru told him, her voice filled with worry.

"I know," Fakir answered her. "Don't worry, I'll write something to help you…let me _focus_…"

His eyes narrowed as he turned back to his writing.

"'_Just then…a scurrying past them…signaled to the two…which path to take.'_"

* * *

Ahiru jumped as a young mouse shot past her and Demi through a left pipe so fast it was just a blur of light brown fur. On the floor of the pipe along the path the mouse were a bunch of breadcrumbs, obviously falling off of a piece of bread the mouse was carrying.

"C'mon, Ahiru-chan!" beckoned Demi, and the two took off along the left path to follow the breadcrumbs of the little mouse.

"_Ahiru,"_ Fakir warned the duck, _"you and Demi don't have much time left; her hour of life is almost up."_

Ahiru quacked in surprise. _'Fakir, we don't have enough time! We haven't even found Helios-kun yet, how can we get out of here in time?'_

There was a tense silence; likely Fakir was thinking. _"I don't know, Ahiru…but I'll think of something…just hurry!" _

'_Okay!'_ Ahiru assured him, nodding firmly.

The puppet and the duck followed the trail of breadcrumbs like hounds tracking a scent. As they zigzagged further and further down through the arrangement of pipes, a chant of obstinate squeaks became louder, until the two peeked around the edge of the final pipe to find the pipes' meeting-place: the Kingdom of Mice.

It was actually charming in its own scavenging, mouse-like way. Old food boxes were stacked upon and around each other to create quaint houses and town buildings, and in the distance stood a wooden-crate castle with tin can turrets and an old clipboard as a drawbridge. What caught Ahiru's attention, however, was a rush of mice toward the very crowded town square where the chanted squeaking was coming from.

'_Maybe that's where Queen Nezumi is,'_ Ahiru thought to herself. _'If we can find her, we can find Helios-kun!'_

She quacked at Demi, gesturing toward the square to convey her thoughts to her, and Demi nodded in agreement.

The two raced toward after the mice to the square, before they got close enough to see the source of the ruckus: their Nutcracker friend, tied to a stake on a raised platform in the center of the square.

"_Prince Helios_," Demi whispered, her eyes wide with concern and terror.

The regal-looking black mouse that was the Mouse Queen Nezumi grabbed a fiery torch from one of the mouse bodyguards and walked up to the helpless Helios, her wrist positioned to set the cursed prince on fire.

"_QUACK_!" Ahiru shouted, running forward trying to tell her to stop.

Demi, however, didn't even try diplomacy; with an inhumanly grand jeté, she leapt past the group of mice, and with another, she jumped up onto the platform in front of Helios, her arms held out in front of her protectively. Ahiru flapped past the mice to join Demi on the stage, quacking imploringly at Nezumi.

"**_Demi-san_!"** Ahiru heard Helios cry out in relief. **"_Ahiru-san_!"**

Ahiru was the only one of the observers who noticed Demi's movements falter slightly, before she stood up as straight as before.

'_W-what?'_ Demi thought in shock. _'What was that? It…was like Ruza's power wore off…but it was only for a moment…'_

"_It did wear off,"_ a male voice rang through her head.

'_Fakir-sama!'_

* * *

"I'm controlling your movements," Fakir explained under his breath as he focused on the human-hearted puppet. "If I don't, you'll be useless."

'_But Fakir-sama, Madame Ruza said you've only been able to control Ahiru-san in your stories,'_ he heard Demi think concernedly.

"I haven't been able to control the story of anything _living_ besides Ahiru," granted Fakir, "but I've never tried writing about something immobile besides _Helios_, and he has a will that could interfere with mine. You're a puppet…as long as your will doesn't fight against my will, I can make you do whatever you need to do."

'_Thank you, Fakir-sama,'_ Demi answered him gratefully.

Fakir glanced at the page as his hand continued moving in loops and lines to create words on the page.

* * *

"_**Who are you?" the Mouse Queen demanded of the duck and the puppet, her eyes a dangerous red. "How dare you interrupt an execution!"**_

_**The puppet focused her attention back on the Mouse Queen, her violet eyes blazing with determination as she proclaimed her desire to save the Nutcracker, and the duck quacked in agreement besides her. The Mouse Queen's eyes widened dangerously at their answer. **_

"**_Is that so?" she whispered. "Well then, you are assisting a criminal…and for that, you shall die as well!"_**

_**The mice surrounded the stage on which the puppet, duck and helpless Nutcracker were standing, blending together into a wall of dark faces. Even the duck's hope-filled heart trembled slightly, wondering if their end was in sight…**_

* * *

Fakir's eyes narrowed in resolve. "No, it's _not_."

His hand tightened around the quill, his mind focusing solely on Demi as he made himself write,

"'_The puppet…forced her fear…aside…and touched the duck's wing gently…to convey the writer's reassurance…before she…ripped the bag of magic dust Madame Ruza had tied to her back open. She twirled around in a pirouette so fast…she was, for a moment…a mere blur of color…and the magic dust was propelled onto the Nutcracker behind her.'_"

* * *

"_Quack_!" cried Ahiru in relief.

"_This can't be_!" shrieked Nezumi.

Demi turned to look behind her, her face breaking into a smile of relief, as Helios came to life.

Helios blinked, holding his head in his now-mobile hand, before he smiled to Demi and then to Ahiru.

"Thank you," he murmured warmly.

He looked at Demi, almost surprised. "Demi-san…did Madame Ruza allow you to dance on your own to assist me?"

Demi shook her head, her cheek slightly pink. "Fakir-sama is controlling me…Madame Ruza's magic on me wore off. I just…I had to come…I wanted to help you…after you were so _kind_ to me…"

Helios's eyes were filled with compassion. "_Demi-san_…"

But before he could say anything more, the mouse bodyguards jumped onto the platform around them, pointing lighted torches and needle swords at them.

Ahiru quacked, moving back toward the other two in slight alarm, and Demi stepped back slightly.

"We shall arrest the intruders, my Queen," Reepicheep stated firmly, his sword and glare directed toward Helios.

Nezumi, however, pushed him away with almost enough strength to throw him to the ground, surprising the mice as well as Ahiru, Demi and Helios.

"I don't need the help of a worthless wretch like you," the Mouse Queen growled in a heartless voice that almost reminded Ahiru of Mytho when his heart was tainted by the Monster Raven's blood.

Nezumi removed her regal red cape with a flourish to reveal a black ballet leotard, before arching her arms above her head in third position with her paws crooked into menacing claws.

"You want to escape with your _life_, Nutcracker Prince?" she scorned, her eyes twinkling with red vice. "You'll have to go through me, then!"

Helios's eyes narrowed, and he stepped in front of Ahiru and Demi protectively.

'_Do we have to fight?'_ Ahiru thought, her eyes full of anxiety. _'Madame Ruza said the Mouse King thought he was doing the right thing, just like Helios-kun did…Nezumi-san is in mourning for him!'_

She tried imploring Helios in quacks, but he quieted her with a shake of his head.

"Nezumi will not negotiate with us, Ahiru-san. She is so angry towards me that she will not listen to _any_ rationalizations…I have no choice but to fight her."

* * *

"Helios…" Fakir muttered, his eyes narrowed in his own type of gruff concern. "Do you _have_ to kill both the Mouse King _and_ the Mouse Queen to have _peace_?"

Nevertheless, his jaw tightened slightly in determination as he read the words his hand was writing.

* * *

_**The Nutcracker Prince raised his hand into the air and closed his eyes, chanting in a distinct whisper. "Komadori, sword that hath helped me protect the innocent, aid me once more!"**_

**_A robin appeared from a burst of light, flying down from the sky in quick, graceful spirals of light. The light wound itself together tightly to create an extraordinary sword with rubies encrusted into the shape of a diamond on the base of the blade._**

_**The Nutcracker Prince's sword, Komadori.**_

* * *

Helios's outstretched hand grabbed Komadori's hilt and pointed it at Nezumi in a challenging manner.

"I will not allow you to harm my friends!" Helios whispered adamantly.

"I will not allow you or your friends to _live_!" Nezumi snapped back.

"And so the battle _finally_ begins!" Drosslemeyer crowed.

* * *

Chuckling as if he was watching a comedy, he eyed the gear image of Helios and Nezumi glaring at each other, the image of the worried Demi and Ahiru and the hurt Reepicheep on their respective sidelines, and finally the image of the focused, writing Fakir.

"Who shall be _victorious_, hmm…Helios-baka or Queen Nezumi? Either way tragedy shall follow! Either Helios-baka will die, and Ahiru-chan and Demi-chan will mourn and vow vengeance…or _Nezumi_ will die and the _mice_ will mourn and vow vengeance! No matter _what_ happens, the Mouse Kingdom will be soaked in _blood_…and the useless Knight is even _more_ useless now, what a nice change of pace! After all, _no_ _one_ can move a puppet's strings and write a story at the same time! Ha, ha, ha…"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:****Komadori - "robin" in Japanese **

**Music Notes:**

"**_The White Witch": _starts at the beginning of the chapter, moving around to include shots of the Kingdom of Mice, the crowd of mice, Nezumi, etc. Nezumi acknowledges Helios at 0:45, and claws him at 0:50. Nezumi shouts, "they die!" at 1:19. The music ends at 1:45, when Nezumi repeats that Helios will die, and the scene moves to Ahiru and Demi. **

"**_From Western Wood to Beaver's Dam": _starts as Ahiru and Demi start to walk down through the sewers, with Demi mentioning _The Prince and the Raven_ at 0:11 and saying, "Why couldn't I?" right before 0:32. Stops at 1:38 as Ahiru and Demi realize they have reached a crossroads. **

**_"Carol of the Bells"_: starts when Ahiru quacks in relief. Mice start to swarm as the music starts to move from classical to rock (at 0:32), and Reepicheep offers to fight at 0:40. Nezumi pushes him at 0:47 and throws her cloak off at 0:55. The piece ends at 1:30.**

**The pieces_ "The White Witch," _and _"From Western Wood to Beaver's Dam," _arefrom _"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"_ soundtrack.**

**This arrangement of_ "Carol of the Bells"_ is by Metallica and the Transiberian Orchestra.**


	7. Act 32: Raven Feathers

_**Once upon a time there was a young knight who loved sleep. The knight loved sleep so much that he once fell asleep and never woke up again, instead sleepwalking to his normal life. He would dream unrealistic dreams of vanquishing magical foes and slaying dragons. As he dreamed, however, the knight would inwardly sigh in relief he never actually committed the horrible deaths he dreamed himself doing. Because the knight never woke up, he never saw the masses of bloody bodies around him.**_

* * *

**Act 32: Raven Feathers**

**(((Carol of the Bells)))**

Fakir stared down at the story his hand was involuntarily writing on the parchment in front of him.

_'Damn it…it's just like the Prince and the Raven. Ahiru all alone, stuck as a duck, trying to help a prince fighting an animal bent on destroying the prince…except this time Ahiru's helping Helios fight the Mouse Queen, not Mytho and the Monster Raven.'_

The green-haired writer's eyes narrowed as he thought of something

_'This story has barely influenced Kinkan Town at all…yes, human-like animals have returned...but no one's aware of anything besides the characters in the story. What's the meaning of this? Drosslemeyer has no more control on the story…but like the oak tree said, all stories are one. All of the stories impact each other, and the end of one story starts a new beginning. What is the importance of this story? Is it merely Helios breaking his curse…or is there more in store for this story? What kind of story will start when this one is completed?'_

* * *

Helios moved in a violent jeté toward Nezumi, thrusting his sword at her, but as quickly as he had moved, Nezumi had twirled away from his sword's assault in a swift pirouette. As soon as Helios made that first move, the mice soldiers swarmed around Demi and Ahiru, attacking them with swords and torches.

Demi felt herself jumping away from the mice in swift precision as Fakir controlled her movements, breathing inwardly in relief as the mice's lit torches were more dangerous to her than to others since she was made of wood.

"_Quack_! Qua-_quack_!"

Demi suddenly caught sight of Ahiru, who, unlike her, was forced to fight off the mice's assault without the assistance of Fakir and was being trampled and slashed by the vicious mice. The puppet tried moving toward the duck so she could force the mice away, but her movements just weren't hers to control.

"_Ahiru-chan_!" she cried.

* * *

"_Ahiru_!" whispered Fakir, his eyes narrowed as he tried to write something to help her. "_'The duck jumped…jump…j…!'_"

But no matter how hard he struggled to control his words, his hand forced himself to write something else entirely.

"'…_Just kept being hit from all sides…the puppet's movements faltered…as the writer's concentration was split between the duck and her…'_"

'_Fakir-sama?'_ Demi's voice rang through his head in worry. _'I almost fell over…'_

Angry tears came to Fakir's slit-like eyes as his hand continued writing of the mice's assaults on Ahiru.

"_Damn it_! I can't control the story and move Demi at the same time!"

"You can't stop moving Demi-chan!" Madame Ruza reminded him sharply. "She'll be a sitting _duck_ if you just let her collapse!"

"Ahiru is the sitting duck right _now_!" Fakir shouted back at her.

* * *

Demi heard Fakir as his control yanked her farther away from Ahiru as well as from the mice soldiers' threatening fire. Her eyes were filled with conflict as she was forced to watch the bruised Ahiru get slammed into the floor continuously and the ballet-inept Helios being slashed by Nezumi's sword-sharp claws.

The puppet tried moving her hand, but no movement she tried was fulfilled.

_'Ahiru-chan…Prince Helios!'_ she thought to herself in anguish. _'Why? Why of all times do I have to be a puppet? Why can't I do anything?'_

* * *

"Poor, poor Demi-chan," scorned Drosslemeyer, sipping from a full cup of tea. "A character in the story that can't influence it…a _tragic_ figure you are! The knight is stuck controlling you, unable to rescue his precious Ahiru-chan…what a beautiful angst-filled tragedy you're helping to create, Demi-chan! _Brava_!"

* * *

_'If only I were human again just…once!'_ Demi thought. _'As a puppet I'm useless…'_

Almost involuntarily Fakir's words came to her. ****

**_"I'm controlling your movements; if I don't, you'll be useless…"_**

Then Helios's voice resurfaced in her mind.****

**_"If you were _really_ a puppet, you would not show emotions such as uncertainty…"_**

Fakir's still seemed to ring louder. ****

**_"You're a puppet…as long as your will doesn't fight against my will, I can make you do whatever you need to do…"_**

Finally one of Helios's statements reached the hopeless puppet over her despair. ****

**_"One with will should always have the chance to fulfill their will…"_**

'_My…will…?'_

Demi shut her eyes tightly in determination as she made up her mind.

'_Fakir-sama…write your story.'_

* * *

As soon as Demi's voice rang through his head, Fakir suddenly felt his hand beginning to shake, not because the writer was afraid or angry, but because Demi was yanking his control of her story and movements out of his grip.

"W-what the-" Fakir stammered, eyes wide. "Demi, what the hell are you _doing_?"

Madame Ruza also looked alarmed as she read Fakir's words over his shoulder. "Demi-chan's…fighting _back_?"

* * *

"W_hat_?"

Drosslemeyer almost dropped his cup of tea.

"A puppet trying to take control of her own _movements_? _Unthinkable_!"

* * *

Demi felt herself falling, her arms dropping limp to her sides…and then she straightened up, arching her arms into third position in inward triumph.

She opened her eyes and, without a second thought, shoved past the crowd of rodent soldiers with a grand jeté over to Ahiru.

As the puppet brushed past the mice, however, one of the lit torches the mice were holding got a good lash at her.

Demi's whole body crumpled as she collapsed by Ahiru, crying out in pain. Her worry overtaking her body's aches, Ahiru flapped her wings rapidly around her friend's burns to deaden the flames; although the duck succeeded in putting it out, the fire still left a thick line of charcoal burns along her neck and her arm.

"Quack-quack?" Ahiru asked in weak worry.

Demi forced a smile through her pain as she stood up once more to face the mice. "Controlling yourself means making a few mistakes sometimes."

Ahiru, thinking of Helios still in trouble, forced herself to stand once more so that her back was to Demi.

"Qua-quack," she said determinedly.

Demi nodded. "We'll fight them together…you, me, and Fakir-sama."

* * *

Fakir smiled as he read Demi's statement. "Yes, we will."

He dipped her quill into ink quickly before returning to his writing.

* * *

_**The mice once again drew toward the two, but this time they were not fighting a group of mice off alone, and could help save each other. When the puppet would almost get slashed by one of mice's swords, the duck would bite the mouse's arm so that he dropped his sword. When the duck would almost be shoved aside by one of the mice, the puppet would kick her leg up gracefully to hit the mouse in the head. The puppet and the duck fought the rodent soldiers with a pas de deux of friendship that gave their enemies something to worry about. **_

_**The duck looked over to the Nutcracker prince still deep in battle with the Mouse Queen, and suddenly caught sight of something black hovering over Queen Nezumi she hadn't noticed before.**_

* * *

'_What is that?'_ Ahiru thought to herself in surprise.

Her blue eyes squinted, trying to make the strange thing out. At first it had looked like a faint black cloud, but as the duck stared at it more, she realized that it didn't look misty or fluffy like a cloud should. If anything, it looked…_feathery_.

'_They're…wings!'_ Ahiru realized.

The black wings shifted slightly, and the yellow duck could make out a black head with two red eyes, a black-feathered body and sharp claws that were currently digging sharply into Nezumi's heart as she continued to dance her ballet of combat with Helios, unaware of the bird's presence.

'_Fakir!'_ Ahiru thought frantically toward the writer. _'The Mouse Queen is being controlled by a raven!'_

* * *

"A _raven_?" Fakir repeated in shock. "But the Monster Raven-"

"Was not the source of the ravens," Madame Ruza finished for him. "Even if you light up a dark room, shadows still remain."

Fakir's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes…the Monster Raven is gone, but the ravens are still alive and searching for hearts to eat. That raven won't let go of the Nezumi's heart until her heart fights or her heart dies…but we don't have Tutu."

* * *

"I have thrust pain on you, Nezumi," Helios proclaimed firmly, his words unknowingly agreeing with Fakir's and his eyes determined. "The only way I can free you from that pain now is to stab the heart that pain is feeding on!"

Ahiru's eyes widened in horror. _'No! It…it can't end like that!'_

Without a second thought, the duck jumped past the mice in a grand jeté, flapping her wings so that she landed between Helios and Nezumi.

"_Ahiru, what are you doing?" _Fakir's voice echoed through her head.

Helios rushed to pull her away from Nezumi, but Reepicheep pushed him away, brandishing his sword at the Nutcracker threateningly. Demi tried to assist her duck friend, but the soldiers were too closely knit around her for her to find an opening over to Ahiru.

Ahiru faced Nezumi, circling her wings over her head and then reaching out to the Queen in the gesture for _"Will you dance with me?"_

Nezumi, however, had little interest in a polite pas de deux. Her eyes flashing red as those of the raven controlling her heart, the black mouse leapt at the duck fiercely, baring her teeth viciously.

Ahiru jumped back away from her in just barely enough time, but still continued to dance, trying to convey her questions to the Mouse Queen.

'_What are you doing, Nezumi-san? Why are you hurting everyone?'_

'_That Nutcracker should hurt just as much as I have!'_ Nezumi's dance answered her. _'He made me suffer, and he made Anatole suffer…I want him to suffer!'_

'_Why?'_ Ahiru's dance asked back._ 'Is Helios-kun's pain really worth it? Would your husband have wanted you to make others suffer in his memory?'_

'_Anatole was the most good-hearted and just king that has ever lived…and the Nutcracker killed him! His death cannot be left in vain! The Nutcracker must die!'_

'_I understand your grief…if someone killed my friends, I would feel angry and sad…but why kill for your husband when you can live for him?'_

'_Live…for him…?'_

'_That's right,'_ Ahiru's gestures assented. _'Live, and laugh, and be happy for him, just as he would've wanted you to. Helios-kun never meant to hurt you, or King Anatole…he has shown remorse for your husband's death, just as you have. End this now, Nezumi-san…you are hurting more than just Helios-kun. Can't you see the pain your citizens are going through?'_

'_My…citizens…?'_

Nezumi's eyes flickered, becoming brown, then red, and then brown again as she stared at the mice burned and bleeding from accidentally being slashed by their comrades' weapons and fighting Demi and Helios. Her eyes then widened as she caught sight of Reepicheep crying out when Helios cut his paw in self-defense.

'_R…Reepicheep…o…otouto…'_

"_No_…" Nezumi whispered, her voice weak and her movements faltering. She clenched her heart, her head bent in toward her chest in pain. "I…don't _want_ this…I don't want this!"

The raven above her turned its head toward her as if startled, and its claws tightened around her heart. Nezumi screamed in pain, her head shooting up and her eyes shut, but as she fell to her knees, she began to glow with red light that forced the raven's claws out of her heart and blasting the bird away from her.

"_Quack_!" Ahiru quacked at Helios as a kind of signal.

"_Yes_!" Helios replied as a shout.

He leapt back over and propelled Komadori in an abrupt downward movement to cut the raven in half, making it disappear in a bunch of light particles.

Reepicheep and his army immediately stopped at Nezumi's weakness. Several little mice, who had hidden with their mothers as the battle, began rushed outside and over to their Queen, crying her name in worry.

For a moment Helios and Reepicheep looked afraid she would make an angry movement toward them, but instead the Queen smiled and wrapped her arms around the young mice reassuringly.

Reepicheep hesitantly also moved to Nezumi, holding his paw out to her. Nezumi stared at him for a long moment. Then she took his hand and let him help her up and the two mice shared a tight embrace.

"Otouto…little brother," Nezumi whispered. "How can you ever forgive me?"

"I would _always_ forgive you, onee-san," Reepicheep responded loyally.

Nezumi turned to Helios, deep regret in her once-again-brown eyes. "Nutcracker...I am deeply sorry for what I've done-"

"There is nothing to apologize for, Queen Nezumi," Helios interrupted her gently. "Your feelings were manipulated by a raven desperate to feed on grief. You were not yourself."

Nezumi smiled, before looking to Ahiru. "Thank you, little duck, for your help. I don't know how you were able to reach me…but you did, and for that, I thank you."

The Mouse Queen turned to her citizens and proclaimed, "And today, in my husband's memory, I extend a hand of friendship to Prince Helios and all the friends he possesses." 

The mice cheered. Helios, Demi and Ahiru all smiled, but Reepicheep's smile was even wider than theirs were

* * *

Fakir dropped his quill as he finished writing and ran outside to the sewer entrance Ahiru and Demi had first gone through, to find Helios lifting up the lid so that the Ahiru-carrying Demi could climb out.

At once the writer took Ahiru from Demi and brought her gently into his arms. Ahiru snuggled into Fakir's chest, likely so tired she thought his warmth was that of a comfy pillow.

Fakir stroked the little duck's head soothingly, a slight, fond smile on his face, before he turned to the Nutcracker.

"Come on, Helios…we should go back."

"Y-yes," Helios answered, stammering for the first time in Fakir's memory.

He turned to Demi, looking oddly nervous. "D-Demi-san…I…I wish to express my gratitude to you for taking the tumultuous risk of coming to my aid."

Demi smiled shyly. "It was nothing, Prince Helios."

"No, it was not!" Helios dissented loudly, before quieting down to continue, "You were courageous and strong…you got burnt trying to defend Ahiru-san-"

"Mistakes happen," interrupted Demi, feeling the part of her burn that slashed across her neck self-consciously.

"What I mean to convey..." Helios said, his gray eyes focused on hers, "...w-what I mean to say is that I-"

His voice cut off abruptly, his eyes going blank, and both Fakir and Demi realized in sorrowful dismay that Madame Ruza's magic on Helios had worn off.

Demi touched Helios's cheek and gave him a sad smile as she murmured, "You're welcome, Your Highness," before sprinting back to Ruza's caravan.

**"…****I love you,"** Helios whispered so quietly his voice sounded like the wind.

"I'm sorry, Helios," Fakir apologized softly, before sighing sadly, picking Helios up and starting to head back to Charon's.

The tears falling from the wooden, blank eyes of the Nutcracker did not go unnoticed by Fakir.

* * *

"_What_, you thought you were going to get a happy ending?" Drosslemeyer asked Helios scornfully. "Not a chance, Helios-baka, not a _chance_…"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes: **

"_**Carol of the Bells"**_**: starts as Fakir thinks his "Drosslemeyer may have no more control on the story," chain of thoughts, and the first movement into rock (or 0:32) starts after Fakir's thoughts, with Helios jumping at Nezumi immediately and the mice swarming at 0:40. Fakir whispers, "Ahiru!" at the movement back into classical at 1:30. Pauses at 1:56 when the scene shifts back to Demi after Fakir shouts at Ruza, and starts again as Demi starts to resist Fakir's control. Demi straightens up at 2:20, and is slashed by the torch at 2:29. Ahiru and Demi dance together against the mice at 2:47. Ahiru notices "something black" over Nezumi at 3:05 as the music moves into classical for the third time, and Fakir repeats, "A raven?" at 3:29 as the rock music returns. Ahiru says that the story can't end with Nezumi dying at 3:52 and lands in front of Nezumi at 4:00. The music pauses at 4:11 as Ahiru starts dancing with Nezumi, and then returns as Nezumi sees her citizens' pain. Nezumi breaks free at 4:38, and Helios kills the raven at 4:42.**

"_**Knighting Peter"**_**: starts at 2:27 as Ahiru starts to question Nezumi through her dance, and ends as Nezumi asks, "My…citizens…?"**

**This arrangement of _"Carol of the Bells"_ is by Metallica and the Transiberian Orchestra.**

**The piece _"Knighting Peter"_ is from "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" soundtrack.**


	8. Act 33: Fakir's Decision

_**Once upon a time there was an artist who longed for love. He could never find a wife to meet his high standards, and the town began to scorn him, saying he would never find love. One day the artist created a flawless sculpture of a beautiful woman, and brought it to life with magic as to show he could find one to make him happy. As he spent time with the living sculpture, however, the artist fell in love with her, and the sculpture fell in love with her creator. Even when the magic wore off, their love still flowed…but the sculpture had to watch the artist as he lived his life without her, forever in pain at not being able to display his love to her.**_

* * *

**Act 33: Fakir's Decision**

**(((Reminiscing with Grandmother)))**

Fakir placed Ahiru on her blanket at the foot of his bed, stroking her feathers lightly as he bandaged her wing. Helios was on his desk, but Fakir had shifted him so that Helios's face was to the wall, thinking that was the best way to pretend he didn't know the prince was crying.

Ahiru shifted slightly in her sleep, a duck smile on her face.

* * *

_**Ahiru once again found herself at the lake. She peered at her duck reflection in the water, before looking up once again and seeing a familiar outline of a man dancing in the distance.**_

'**Fakir!'**

_**Ahiru ran on top of the lake over to him. Fakir looked down at her, his emerald eyes again filled with pain. The duck hated seeing such pain in her friend's eyes.**_

"_**Quack-qua quack?" she asked him in frantically worried quacks. "Quack, quack-qua quack?"**_

_**The writer bent down gracefully to sit beside her, not responding to her quacks at all and still staring at her with those lonely, sad eyes. **_

"_**Quack-qua-"**_

_**Ahiru stopped mid-sentence as Fakir picked her up. As soon as his fingers had touched her feathers, Ahiru felt herself growing until she was once again a girl wearing the yellow dress and winged pendent from her previous dream.**_

_**Fakir held Ahiru out at arm's length, his eyes sad as if he thought she was a dream that would fade when he woke up, before he leaned in close to Ahiru, pressing his lips to her forehead in the gentlest of kisses.**_

_**Ahiru's eyes were very wide, amazed both by Fakir's kiss and by the warmth that filled her heart as a result.**_

'**Fakir…you…?'**

* * *

"Quack…?" Ahiru murmured sleepily, her eyes peeking open.

Fakir smiled down at her as he put the roll of bandages back in his desk drawer. "Sleep well, baka?"

Ahiru gave a big duck yawn, before she gave Fakir a smile. "Quack-qua…"

She looked around, realizing she was back at Charon's. "Quack qua-quack qua?"

"Everything's fine," Fakir attempted to answer the question Ahiru had said but he didn't understand. "Helios is back here…Demi went back to Ruza…"

"Qua quack-quack quack quack," Ahiru argued, gesturing to Helios and then making the mime for love.

Fakir's face filled with penitence, and the duck figured out the answer to her statement: Helios hadn't been able to tell Demi how he felt for her.

Ahiru looked to Helios, her eyes sorrowful. "Quack…quack-quack qua?"

"**I…I am all right, Ahiru-san,"** Helios assured her half-heartedly, speaking for the first time since they'd returned to Charon's. **"It…it is obviously this way for a _reason_…a happy ending…was more than I had ever _aspired_ to. At least Queen Nezumi's grief is put to rest…and Demi now has freedom to move as she wishes sometimes…she must be happy…if she is happy…I should be."**

Fakir too looked sorry for Helios, but unlike Ahiru, austerity masked the regret. _'If I could write about Helios, I would change his story so that he broke his curse…but I can't write about anyone with a will besides Ahiru…'_

Suddenly Charon's voice rang from downstairs.

"_Fakir_! There's someone here to see you!"

Fakir turned slightly to eye the door, both slightly curious and slightly irritated. "What on earth does the meddlesome Ruza want _now_?"

He sighed tiredly and then called back, "Send her up, Charon!"

'_Is something wrong?' _thought Ahiru._ 'Maybe Ruza's here to help Helios-kun!'_

Footsteps echoed up the stairs, before the door was pushed gently open.

Fakir turned to look at Madame Ruza, to find himself faced with someone else: a girl dressed in a plain dark blue dress with short chocolate hair, violet eyes and a serious-looking burn across her neck and down her left arm.

"**_Demi_!"** Helios choked in disbelief.

Ahiru quacked excitedly to see her friend, flapping to stand despite her wounds.

Demi bent down by the bed so she could give Ahiru a gentle hug, smiling warmly. "I'm very glad to see you too, Ahiru-chan."

"You're human again?" Fakir inquired, still a bit overwhelmed by this news.

Demi smiled at him, nodding eagerly. "Yes…"

* * *

_**Demi pushed hard against the caravan door until she finally succeeded in making it creak open. Madame Ruza was sitting in her spot at the table, her back to Demi. Her face was blank, almost as if Ruza wasn't sure how to feel. **_

_**Demi stepped up to the witch hesitantly, not knowing quite what to say.**_

"_**I never thought I'd see a puppet dancing by itself," Ruza finally stated, giving Demi a small smile. "Here was I, thinking I would have to tie strings to your limbs again upon your return…but no…you surprised me, Demi-chan."**_

_**Demi hesitated, and then said, "I had to; Fakir-sama had to write the story…"**_

"_**Yes," agreed Madame Ruza, "but only a puppet with real heart could've done what you did. I thought it was impossible for a puppet to feel such feelings."**_

_**Demi looked at the floor. "Well…I guess that's because I'm not a puppet at all."**_

_**Madame Ruza looked at Demi as if asking her to explain herself.**_

"**_I-I mean…I _look_ like a puppet…and I _move_ like a puppet…but I've been human all along. If I were really a puppet, I wouldn't have emotions…so if I were really a puppet, I couldn't have done what I did. I only did it because…I was so determined to rescue Prince Helios…because in my heart, I wanted nothing more than to help him, Ahiru-chan and Fakir-sama. I guess…though I may have called myself a puppet for so long…my heart is still a human's heart." _**

_**Madame Ruza stared at Demi for a long time, before her face broke into a smile. **_

"_**Cinderella was still Cinderella, even as a princess dancing with the prince," she murmured absently. "But she couldn't have lived happily with the prince if he only saw her as a princess…he had to love her for who she truly was."**_

_**And without a further explanation, Madame Ruza brandished her hand at Demi. **_

_**Demi felt herself being spun in a pirouette, faster and faster, feeling as if she was being stretched in an extra-gentle taffy machine as she danced, until finally she made herself stop and she looked at Madame Ruza in confusion.**_

_**Then Demi realized…she didn't have to look up at Ruza…for she was now taller than she was.**_

_**Demi gaped, looking down at her flesh hands in disbelief. "I…I'm…"**_

"**_You're human," Madame Ruza finished for her with a wry smile. "Now inside and out. After all, it's not like I can control you with you being so _willful_ now."_**

_**Demi looked at her once-puppeteer, her eyes filling up with tears of joy. "Thank you, Madame Ruza…thank you so much."**_

"_**Nonsense," scorned Ruza lightly. "Now go…the prince will want to see you."**_

_**Demi's cheeks went pink, before she gave Ruza a nod and left the caravan.**_

* * *

"…Madame Ruza changed me back," Demi finished, her eyes shining.

Fakir smiled slightly. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Fakir-sama," the once-puppet replied gratefully.

She then turned to look at Helios on Fakir's desk, her violet eyes becoming more serious. Demi stood up from the floor and walked over to him, before picking the him up and holding the Nutcracker close to her chest in a hug.

"**W-_what_?"** Helios stammered, both shocked and bashful by the movement.

Demi of course couldn't hear him. Her eyes were teary and mournful, reminding Ahiru of Rue's eyes when Mytho had been turned into a raven and Rue danced a sad pas de deux with him to convey to him how much he meant to her.

"I can't hear you," she murmured. "I have a feeling I won't be able to hear you again, even if Madame Ruza brings you to life, since I'm no longer a subject of her magic," she smiled through her tears, "But…at least…I can thank you."

Ahiru was ready to speak, but Fakir shot her a look, telling her not to interrupt.

"Without you, I wouldn't have found the drive to stand on my own. You helped me find my determination again after I lost all my confidence and strength when people criticized my dancing. You were kind to me when everyone else only saw me a puppet being controlled by Madame Ruza. Ahiru-chan, Fakir-sama and you are probably the only _real_ friends I've ever had. I only wish I could give you the devotion and care you _deserve_, prince…I'd do _anything_ if I could set _you_ free too. You can't be happy until you're free to find happiness as the human you truly are…even if you _look_ like a Nutcracker, you are a human at heart."

"**_Demi_…"** Helios's voice cracked, but only Fakir and Ahiru heard him.

"The truth is, my prince," Demi confessed quietly, looking both shy and sad, "after all that we've been through, Prince Helios, you've come to mean so _much_ to me. You're brave and good-hearted and righteous and true…everything that makes you who you are…has become so _precious_ to me. The truth is, Prince Helios…the truth is that I…I…I love you."

There was a forlorn silence. Then without warning, a burst of light shot from the wooden Helios. Demi, Fakir and Ahiru all shielded their eyes, the duck quacking in confused surprise and the puppet-turned-human dropping Helios in alarm.

The light raised Helios up into the air, covering him with wings like those of the robin that created Komadori. Amongst the light, the toy grew, his legs becoming muscled, his hands becoming mobile, until even his face was that of a human.

When the light finally died away, a man stood in the Nutcracker's place: a man dressed in a red and gold uniform and gold crown with semi-long light brown hair, gentle silver-gray eyes and four claw marks across his cheek.

Helios, now human once more, held his head in his hand as if it were in pain. Demi almost moved toward him, but quavered when Helios lifted his head, as if afraid to touch him. The prince, however, looked up at her and smiled.

"Thank you, Demi."

Demi's violet eyes were very wide. "…_Prince Helios_?"

Helios took her hand. "Yes…I needed one to love me as the Nutcracker as I was."

"You needed someone…to love you?" Demi repeated.

Helios nodded. "I believed it to be impossible…but you did it! You set me free."

"I set you free?" said Demi, her mind unable to grasp what had just happened.

"_Yes_, Demi," assented Helios, amused by her disbelief. "It seems your romantic monologue was enough to break my curse."

Demi stared at him for a long time, before she burst out laughing, so overwhelmed by it all.

* * *

Fakir sat on the ladder propped up on a bookcase at the library, skimming the pages of a book he had read many times before.

Helios had invited Demi to accompany him back to his kingdom as his princess, and she had accepted by practically tackling him and kissing him. The two had driven back toward Theia in a carriage led by white horses, waving goodbye to Ahiru and Fakir and promising to write to them.

Ahiru very visibly missed her friends after their departure the previous week, and Fakir did as well; however, the writer found himself more troubled about Demi ending her and Helios's story than in her and Helios leaving.

'_I titled Helios's and Demi's story _"The Will of a Puppet,"_'_ Fakir thought to himself. _'Everything in the story changed because of Demi's will…she was supposed to be helpless, unable to influence the story at all…'_

Ahiru's voice echoed through his memory.

"**_If I could help Mytho, I wouldn't be _asking_ this of you, Fakir…but right now I can't do _anything_!"_**

'_Yet…Demi still fought for Helios…despite all odds and accepting the fact she would make mistakes and get hurt...'_

Again Ahiru's voice replied to his thoughts.

"_**I will not just stand by and decide I can't do anything!"**_

'_And with her human will, she was able to fight, and eventually Madame Ruza turned her back so she could live her human life.'_

This time Demi's words to Helios rose to the top of his memory.

"**_You can't be happy until you're free to find happiness as the human you truly are…even if you look like a Nutcracker, you are a human at heart."_**

_'A human at heart…'_

Fakir turned the page in the book in his hands, just as he had many times before, both as a child and as a knight struggling to protect the prince the book depicted. _The Prince and the Raven_ had many detailed illustrations that ran alongside the detailed story; one that Fakir had observed often was that of Lohengrin, the prince's knight and his past self, being slashed in half by a raven's claw. The illustration Fakir had turned to, however, was instead of a blond boy sitting on the floor and listening to the tale of a white-haired man: a tale that brought the heroine, Princess Tutu, to life in the boy's imagination.

_'Tutu…Ahiru…'_

Fakir visualized the petite girl with a long red braid and ocean-blue eyes that the yellow duck had become when he first knew her: the girl that he would never admit to anyone that he loved.

_'I can't continue Ahiru's story…I've tried everything…she's a duck…but…'_

Dancing with Ahiru in the Lake of Despair was still fresh in Fakir's mind.

'…_Her heart is human.'_

Making up his mind, Fakir closed _The Prince and the Raven_ and put it back on the shelf, before heading out of the bookstore.

As he walked out, however, Fakir found himself walking straight into Madame Ruza, who had been waiting for him outside. Her face was grim.

"So…you've decided to write her a story with your own power, Fakir-chan?"

Fakir glared at her as if to dare her to question his decision. "Yes. I have."

Madame Ruza did not attempt to scold him, and instead nodded too. Nonetheless, she reminded him in a warning sort of tone, "Remember, young writer…Drosslemeyer lost _everything_ when he wrote stories with only his power…and stories, although one, Fakir-chan, often _repeat_-"

"I am _not_ Drosslemeyer," Fakir interrupted gruffly, brushing past her. "I have a reason not to let myself become him."

Madame Ruza looked slightly sorry for the writer. "I know your parents' deaths have hurt you, Fakir-chan…but memories sometimes aren't enough."

"Then it's a good thing my reason is not their deaths," Fakir answered quietly. "My reason is to protect those I care about."

And with that, the writer started back toward Charon's.

Madame Ruza watched him leave, at first looking sad; then she smiled slightly.

"Good luck to you, young writer."

* * *

"My, _my_!" Drosslemeyer cried as he turned from the gear image of Ruza to the one of the determined Fakir. "So the knight has decided to experiment with his own power to try and give Ahiru-chan a happy ending! There was one twist I _hadn't_ expected…then again, all stories happen for a _reason_…I see, the reason for Helios-baka's happy ending was to give the knight motivation to change Ahiru-chan's story! I suppose I can accept _that_ happy ending, then, if it prompts the misfortune the knight will end up bringing about! Ha, ha, ha…"

* * *

Rue looked out of the royal carriage at the place she and Mytho were approaching, to have her eyes meet the sight of white marble ruins overridden with vines and splattered with red liquid that must have been blood.

* * *

"_**Prince Siegfried," the royal attendant stated Mytho's real name stiffly.**_

"_**You've prepared everything, Gachou?" Mytho asked in response.**_

"_**Yes, Your Majesty."**_

"_**Very well then…Rue and I must go and see what's left."**_

* * *

Rue turned to Mytho, her scarlet eyes full of slight concern. "Ouji…is this…?"

Mytho nodded grimly, eyeing the castle ruins out the window sadly. "Welcome to Cygnus…the kingdom of my mother and father."

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:****Gachou - "goose" in Japanese**

**Cygnus - name of a northern constellation; Latin for "swan"**

**Music Notes:**

"**_Father Christmas"_: starts when Demi's footsteps echo up the stairs toward Fakir's room, with Helios realizing "Demi!" at 0:19. Demi's flashback starts at 0:33, with the music pausing as Ruza starts to talk at 0:44. The music starts again when Demi recurs that Ruza changed her back; she turns to Helios at 0:52 and embraces him at 1:02. Demi starts her "I can't hear you" chain of speech at 1:11, Ahiru tries to speak at 1:32, and Demi continues at 1:35. Demi finishes her love confession at 2:49, the light shoots out from Helios at 2:56 and Helios is revealed human once more as the piece ends.**

"**_Reminiscing with Grandmother"_: starts as _"Father Christmas"_ ends as Helios holds his head. The speech between Helios and Demi is very slow, with Helios's last statement ending at 0:50 and Demi laughing at 1:06, and then the piece moves to Fakir at the library. The music pauses at 1:30 as Fakir thinks about _'The Will of a Puppet'_, before coming back as Fakir turns the page in _'The Prince and the Raven.' _Fakir closes the book at 2:08 and faces Ruza at 2:25. Fakir says his reason is to protect at 2:55, and Ruza whispers her wish of luck to Fakir before 3:05.**

**The piece_ "Father Christmas" _is from _"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" _soundtrack.**

**The piece _"Reminiscing with Grandmother"_ is from the _"Anastasia" _soundtrack.**


	9. Act 34: The Past of Prince Siegfried

_**Once upon a time there was a prince. Everyone this prince met loved him, and so the prince tried to love everyone back just as much. But the prince was afraid to show weakness in front of his people, and so, despite all of the love the people gave him, the prince fought and journeyed alone. Why? Because the people only loved him as a prince and would never know him enough to love him for who he truly was.**_

* * *

**Act 34: The Past of Prince Siegfried**

**(((West Wing)))**

The door to the royal carriage opened. Gachou, Mytho and Rue's dark-skinned, brown-eyed attendant dressed in a black suit with a tall white collar, had already run beside the carriage steps, and he offered Rue a hand as to help her out.

The once raven princess took the attendant's hand and stepped out gracefully, eyeing the bloody kingdom of Cygnus in a mixture of sadness and guilty nausea.

No longer in her swan-inspired white wedding dress from the finale of _The Prince and the Raven_, Rue was adorned in a red dress with a wide skirt and loose, long sleeves and an intricate silver tiara laden with fake red roses.

Mytho stepped out of the carriage too so he could stand beside her. He himself was dressed in his classic gold crown, a light yellow shirt with puffy gold sleeves and his kingdom's emblem of extended swan wings across the chest and slim white pants and shoes.

"I know," the white-haired prince murmured as he looked over the ruined castle. "It's rather sad, isn't it?"

Rue eyed Mytho with a morose look. "This…is where you grew up, ouji?"

"Yes," answered Mytho.

Rue almost said something in return, but she stopped when she saw the look in Mytho's amber eyes. She was still slightly unused to see emotions from Mytho as for most of the time she'd known him he had been heartless, unable to feel anything. But the painful longing in Mytho's eyes at that moment surprised Rue more than any other emotion she'd ever seen there, and she was almost afraid to ask Mytho what had made his childhood home look like this.

"Prince Siegfried," Gachou stated Mytho's real name in formal concern, "would you like the guards and me to inspect the castle first for possible dangers?"

Mytho shook his head. "No…I want to see it without anything being touched, just as it was left."

"But there might be worn floors, or even stray-"

"I can defend myself, Gachou," Mytho assured him gently, patting his swan-icon sword resting on his side. "I want to see myself if there's anything that's been left undamaged. Gather the guards and tell them to investigate the town, and then we'll enter the castle."

"Yes, your Highness."

Gachou hurried to gather the royal guards, as Mytho looked back upon the ruins. Rue, hating to see such sadness from Mytho, reached out a hand to touch his shoulder; Mytho turned to see solemn concern in her eyes.

"My…heart is _hurting_, Rue," he murmured explanatorily, his hand moving to his chest. "I almost don't want to do this, because it hurts so much…"

"Don't go then, ouji," Rue insisted, touching his cheek affectionately. "I hate seeing you like this…"

Mytho smiled sadly. "I've had to go through pain _before_, Rue. I couldn't have gotten my heart back if I didn't go through some pain."

"But ouji, what will you gain by hurting yourself like this?" demanded Rue, both concerned for him and frustrated that he wouldn't listen to her.

Mytho's eyes shifted toward the ruined palace once more. "Closure."

"_Hato_!" Gachou's voice suddenly rang out in a less formal and more alarmed tone that he had been using with Mytho and Rue. "What are you _doing_ in there?"

Mytho and Rue turned to see their royal attendant near the royal carriage's luggage compartment, where the head of a dark-skinned boy of about six years with yellow-green eyes was poking out.

"You found me, Daddy!" the boy called Hato greeted cheerfully. "Now _you've_ got to hide, and _I'll_ seek!"

Rue looked slightly appalled at a little boy stowing away in the luggage compartment; Mytho, however, laughed at the look of pride in Hato's eyes.

Gachou, taking his son out of the compartment and into his arms, immediately tried to apologize. "Prince Siegfried, I am _so_ sorry; I honestly didn't _know_-"

But Mytho waved a hand in a dismissive fashion. "Don't be…it's been a very long time since I've been able to laugh like that."

Hato gave Mytho a wide smile. "Daddy, can he play hide-and-seek with us too?"

"Hato, this is _not_ the time," Gachou scolded gently. "The prince has plenty of other things to worry about."

"Well, in a way, we _are_ going to be doing a bit of seeking," Mytho stated more seriously. "Rue…you could take care of Hato while we explore the ruins-"

"No." Rue's dissent was so firm she surprised both Gachou and Mytho.

She wrapped her arm around her prince's resolutely. "I won't let you go into a place that hurts you this much without me; I'm coming with you. Hato can come too if Gachou keeps him close…I'm not letting you go alone."

Mytho stared at Rue for a moment, before his face broke out into a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Rue."

* * *

Rue felt intense foreboding as she, Mytho, Gachou and Hato journeyed through the wrecked palace, but she forced it down, knowing she had to be there for Mytho. If it was scary to her, she could only imagine how much it hurt Mytho.

'_It must have been beautiful,'_ Rue thought as her eyes moved over the cracked walls covered in ripped tapestries, cobwebs and dust. _'Everything is so soft…yet grand…almost just like ouji. It's not surprising why this place is painful to him; it must be a living nightmare to see his childhood home in such disrepair and ruin…'_

"Daddy," said Hato, shrinking back toward Gachou, "this place is _creepy_…"

"_Hush_, Hato," Gachou reproached under his breath. "This was the prince's former kingdom…show some _respect_."

Hato looked around, his yellow-green eyes wide. "You _lived_ here, prince?"

"Yes," Mytho answered in quiet despondency. "Though when I was last here, it looked very different."

"Oh," Hato replied in an equally quiet tone, before asking, "When were you-?"

"I think that's enough questions," Rue interrupted the child a little more harshly than she had wanted to.

She understood Hato's curiosity, but also was afraid of having discussion of Cygnus be painful to Mytho.

'_I have hurt Mytho even without knowing his past,'_ the once raven princess thought, remembering when she had soaked Mytho's heart shard of love in the Monster Raven's blood and turned Mytho in a raven. _'I don't want to hurt him anymore.'_

Mytho looked down from the main hall's ripped-open ceiling over the swan-adorned banisters on the grand staircase, as he remembered two boy friends, one white-haired and one blond, racing each other down the rails, before his memory fell away to see the now-headless swan on the blood-stained marble rail.

'_This place…was my home,'_ Mytho thought heavily.

He looked down the hall to the left of the staircase toward the dining hall. In his mind's eye, a laughing Spanish boy with curly blue hair and a worried Middle-Eastern boy with long black hair were running down that hall to escape the wrath of a dark-silver-haired knight-in-training. When the prince blinked, however, the image of the three boys vanished instantly and all that remained was an empty hall with a large crack through the floor.

_'This is not a home…'_

Mytho's amber eyes moved over the parlor to the right of the staircase, recalling the memory of a middle-aged man and a girl with matching long red hair applauding a white-haired boy's ballet routine, before the reality of over-turned furniture and scraped walls took its place.

_'…It's a graveyard.'_

"Hato! Hato, come back here!"

Mytho suddenly shot out of his thoughts at the sound of Gachou's worried voice, and the prince saw Hato running up the ruined grand staircase, ignoring his father's calls for him.

"_Hato_!" Gachou repeated, sounding angrier but not hastening to run after his son. "You get back _down_ here, young man! I am _not_ playing! Get _back_ here!"

"Gachou, you're _hopeless_," Rue reproached him, lifting up her red skirt slightly so she could run up the stairs after Hato. "You _can't_ control little boys with _words_…I'll get him myself."

"But _Princess_-"

"Don't argue with me, or it's your _job_!"

Rue dashed up the rest of the stairs into the hallway little Hato had run off to explore, immediately perceiving the lack of light once she left the main hall where the ceiling was ripped open. The menacing, almost endless darkness reminded Rue of when the Monster Raven was released from his imprisonment and blanketed Kinkan Town with his blackness and raven evil.

Again Rue felt a flash of fear in her heart, but she fought it down as she saw the curious Hato slip into a room on the far end of the hall.

Rue moved to the room's door. She hesitated for a moment at the thought that she could call Hato back and go right back to Mytho, before, thinking of her reproach of Gachou, she pushed the door open and peeked inside the room.

It was enough of a nightmare to terrify even Rue.

The walls looked as though they had once been painted a youthful light yellow, but had been slashed by a set of giant claws, making the paint peel off as if to escape the claws' horrible wound. Furniture had been smashed, making the edges of innocent tables and chairs protrude like daggers. Ripped child drawings, broken dolls and torn stuffed animals littered the floor, as if whoever had destroyed the room cared nothing for child-like innocence.

Rue walked in slowly, horrified by what her eyes met. _'Could this have Mytho's room? No…the toys on the floor…they're stuffed animals and dolls…a girl's toys.'_

She whirled around when she felt something grab the edge of her skirt. To her relief, her dress had only gotten caught on the sharp edge of a broken chair.

Pulling her skirt off the chair, Rue looked to a bureau in the corner that had somehow been able to stay intact, to find a dusty velvet box with a swan engraved on the top placed on the back-left edge.

'_A jewelry box,'_ Rue realized. _'So this is a girl's room…'_

Her pale hand gently brushed the dust off of it, before her fingers dug into the groove around the box to open it.

A ballerina figurine in a pink tutu inside began to turn in a slow pirouette as an innocent little music box tune tinkled in the background.

Her heart aching, Rue closed her eyes and forced herself to close the box, before turning instead to look at the wall above the bureau. On it were the remains of a beautiful portrait of three people: a man, a woman and a little boy.

The man had long red hair tied back in a ponytail that reminded Rue of Fakir and warm amber eyes that were an exact replica of Mytho's, and was dressed in a white and gold velvet tunic and a gold crown not unlike the one Mytho often wore. The man had a hand rested on the shoulder of a white-dressed toddler with white hair and innocent amber eyes that Rue recognized at once as Mytho.

Rue then turned her eyes to look at the woman, and she stared.

The woman's hair was the same shade, texture and length as Mytho's, her eyes were a lovely shade of blue and she was dressed in a white dress adorned with pink and a tiny gold crown that balanced delicately on her head. Her hand was resting gently on her slightly large belly, obviously full with a baby.

To any other person, the woman wouldn't have been startling: lovely, of course, but quite ordinary. Rue, however, had seen the woman's wise, gentle face before, though only whenever the woman had been using her friend Ahiru as a host.

_'Princess…Tutu…?'_

"**Hello, Kraehe," **whispered a very cold, heartless voice.

Rue's heart stopped. She whirled around, to find herself faced with a pitch-black, red-eyed raven.

Hato suddenly ran out from behind one of the broken tables to hide behind Rue, his eyes filled with panic at the sight of the raven.

Rue stood her ground, attempting to hide her fear. "I am _not_ Kraehe…I'm Rue!"

The raven laughed darkly. **"Call yourself what you _like_, Kraehe! You were our _princess_…and you betrayed the Monster Raven!"**

Rue flinched. _'He knows about the Monster Raven…but I've never seen him before…'_

"**Yes, we hear _all_, Kraehe,"** the raven whispered cruelly, **"even we who haven't left here in many years…we know of your treachery…"**

Hato cowered behind her as more ravens appeared behind the leader.

"W-what are they _saying_, your Highness?" the little boy stammered, obviously unable to understand the ravens' angry caws.

The lead raven's eyes were so red they were like fiery coals. **"This time your heart is _ours_, Kraehe!"**

The leader flew at Rue so fast she had no time to react; just as his claws were about to sink into her, however, a silver sword with two swans adorning the hilt slashed the raven in half, making it disappear in a bunch of light particles.

"_Ouji_!" Rue cried.

Mytho stood protectively in front of her and Hato. "Don't worry, Rue…I'll handle these ravens!"

The prince swerved his sword to slash the other ravens in half as they flew at him to avenge their leader, until finally all of them were destroyed.

Gachou immediately ran into the doorway of the room in response to all the noise, and wrapped his arms around Hato in relief. "Hato, are you all right?"

Hato was crying. "_Daddy_! The _ravens_…I was so _scared_, Daddy!"

Mytho panted slightly as he slid his sword back into its sheath, before he turned to Rue, his amber eyes filled with worry. "Are you hurt, Rue?"

Rue shook her head. "No, ouji…I'm all right."

Mytho's eyes softened slightly. "I am relieved."

He turned to his attendant still hugging Hato. "Gachou…I think you and Hato should gather the guards, and perhaps find someplace for us to stay tonight."

Gachou nodded. "I agree with your idea, your Highness…come along, Hato."

With that, the attendant departed, pulling his son by the hand out with him. Mytho turned to look around the room, and Rue noticed when his eyes' almost immediately rested on the ruined portrait of him, Tutu and the red-haired man.

"Ouji," Rue murmured, "I wasn't going to ask, for fear of hurting you…you _know_ you're everything to me, ouji…I want to help you. I have to know…what is _hurting_ you so much. _Please_, ouji…what made Cygnus look like this?"

Mytho stiffened, and Rue instantly wondered if she'd gone too far. The prince, however, sighed slightly and turned to look at her with sad eyes.

"I should've known you would ask. I think, deep down, I knew you would. I guess…I'm just not used to people having the chance to know anything about me. Everyone else I've met…while they _loved_ me…didn't really _know_ me. They loved the prince who loved everyone. But you…you deserve to know, Rue…"

Mytho sighed once more. "You probably noticed the painting here…"

He gestured the decrepit portrait above the bureau, and Rue nodded.

"Is that…_really_ Tutu?" she asked him.

Mytho nodded. "Yes…she was my mother."

Rue's scarlet eyes widened. "_Mother_?"

"Yes," assented Mytho. "She died giving birth to my sister…but before she died, as an act of comfort toward me, she told me she loved me, and disappeared in a flash of light. My mother was cursed, you see, when she was born, and was forbidden to speak of love to _anyone_…"

He looked at the man in the portrait, sadness etched on his features. "…Even her own husband, Lohengrin."

"_Lohengrin_?" repeated Rue. "But…but _that_ was-"

"The knight, who was slashed in half by a raven's claw protecting the prince," Mytho finished for her. "He was a knight unable to fight without words who fell in love with a princess who could not confess her love for him…my father."

Rue looked amazed. "So _that's_ why he looks like Fakir…"

Mytho nodded. "Fakir is his reincarnation…I trusted and responded to him so quickly because I found him familiar."

Rue was quiet for a moment, her eyes wandering back to Tutu in the portrait. "You said…you had a _sister_, Mytho?"

"Yes…her name was Odette," Mytho replied, smiling in a type of sad fondness. "She was three years younger than me…and probably my closest friend. She was always right there for me, praising my ballet…she was never very good at it, you see," he chuckled slightly to bite back tears. "Ahiru…made me think so much of her…so _clumsy_, but _sweet_…"

"What…what happened to her?" Rue inquired, almost afraid to know.

"She was kidnapped along with some of my friends," Mytho answered, his voice becoming hard with grief, "by a wizard whose heart had been consumed by one of the ravens…the wizard who had penetrated Cygnus's walls and sneaked the ravens inside…so they could destroy _everything_. I…I'm all that's left."

Rue wrapped her arms around Mytho, stroking his hair as tears filled her eyes. "I'm sorry, ouji…I was a raven for so long…and you had this _pain_ in you…how could you love one raised by the creatures that destroyed your home?"

Mytho brushed her tears away gently. "Rue…you were still a baby when Cygnus was destroyed. I didn't age after I lost my heart, and you were only a little girl when we first met. You couldn't have done anything."

* * *

"That's right," Drosslemeyer chuckled sardonically as he focused on the gear image of Rue and Mytho. "_None_ of you can do anything anyway…storybook characters _never_ can!"

His focus then went to a gear image of the writing Fakir and smirked widely.

"Now away from this little side-story! Let's get back to the story at hand. Go on, foolish Knight…and write Ahiru-chan's demise! Ha, ha, ha!"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Name Notes:**

**Hato - Japanese for "pigeon" or "dove"  
**

**Odette - name of the princess that fell in love with the Prince Siegfried in the ballet _"Swan Lake"_; comes from French male name "Odo," which means "wealth" or "fortune"**

**Music Notes:**

"**_West Wing"_: starts as Rue goes after Hato. Rue sees Hato go into the room at the far end at 0:25 and hesitates at the door at 0:31 before pushing the door open at 0:37. Rue is startled by the broken chair catching her dress at 0:58, notices the box at 1:04 and opens it at 1:07, where the music pauses. The music comes back at 1:20 as Rue notices the portrait, looking at each figure until her eyes fall on Tutu at 1:32. The raven leader makes his presence known behind Rue at 1:35 and Hato runs behind Rue in terror at 1:40. The music pauses at 1:45, until the raven starts his "Yes, we hear all" chain of speech. Mytho appears from nowhere and kills the lead raven when he tries to attack at 1:56, slashing the others at 2:00, 2:02 and 2:03, and the group runs in after them at 2:04, where the music stops. The music picks up again as Rue notices Mytho eyeing the portrait at 3:14. The piece ends as Mytho stiffens at Rue's question. **

"**_Prologue"_: The tune of _"Once Upon a December." _Starts when the velvet jewelry box opens and ends at 0:19.**

**The piece _"West Wing"_ is from the _"Beauty and the Beast"_ original motion picture soundtrack.**

**The piece _"Prologue" _(and the tune for the song _"Once upon a December"_) is from the _"Anastasia"_ soundtrack.**


	10. Act 35: Writing Her Story

_**Once upon a time there was a writer whose stories were supposed to come true. He once wrote a story as a teenager to save his country from an invading army, but instead, his untrained talent destroyed the town, for the writer was unable to accept that he could do nothing to help those he cared about. Many years later, as a man, the writer fell in love with a woman, and was determined to save her from a jealous wizard. Because he again couldn't accept he could do nothing for her, the writer killed his love with his own story.**_

**Act 35: Writing Her Story**

**(((Moondance)))**

Ahiru was growing very concerned.

Usually she and Fakir traveled to the lake every morning so she could swim and he could write. Yet this morning after breakfast, Fakir had gone back up to his room to write, telling Ahiru she could go to the lake if she wanted in an almost dismissive fashion.

Ahiru, however, had decided to stick around her male friend's room to keep an eye on him.

'_It's not that much of a problem,'_ the duck tried to tell herself from her spot in his doorway. _'I mean…Fakir should write wherever it's easiest to write…but…'_

She looked at Fakir deeply concentrating on the story he was writing, and it struck her at that moment that Fakir looked more focused on this story than on any story he'd written after _The Prince and the Raven_. Yet his eyes shone with more than simply focus; it was as if this story he was writing was his last chance to achieve a dream.

_'I wonder what he's writing about…'_

* * *

'_Once upon a time there was a duck who transformed…no. It can't be that simple.'_

Fakir hadn't even started writing; his quill was still hovering over the page as he pondered how to start Ahiru's story.

'_Once upon a time there was a duck that wished to become…no. I can't know what she wants…I don't want to force her to feel like I do. Once upon a time…once upon a time…'_

Fakir's hand tightened around his quill, his eyes narrowing in frustration.

'_Damn it! How can I write a story about Ahiru with only my power? How can I? _

"Quack?"

'_The only story I ever wrote with my own power was by accident, and it didn't even end up happening…except for the ravens coming after me…and my parents…'_

"Quack?"

Fakir closed his eyes in exasperation.

'_How can I write about turning Ahiru back into a human if I can't even decide how to start her story again? I have to write a story with a conflict about the one who means the very most to me…how am I supposed to start that?'_

"Quack?"

Fakir was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't hear the quacking below him and didn't notice his duck friend move back to the door and give him a sad look before leaving the room.

* * *

"Oh, you foolish Knight!" scorned Drosslemeyer. "So focused on your _story_, you ignore your precious Ahiru-chan, the _reason_ for you writing! Keep it up and you'll be able to write stories I can be _entertained_ by…maybe you taking control of the story was a good thing, after all! Ha, ha!" 

The old storyteller didn't notice the head of a curious little girl with green hair and violet eyes poke out from behind one of his gears with a surprised look on her face, before running off toward the passage connecting Drosslemeyer's world with the world of reality.

* * *

'_Damn it all!'_

Fakir thrust his quill at the wall when his fist angrily slammed onto the desk.

'_How did the old story spinners do it? It's one thing to write a story about strangers, or even about friends…but how can I write about her? How can I write about naive, clumsy, hopeful, loving Ahiru? I did it before…but without these kinds of risks…'_

"Fakir!"

Fakir looked up abruptly in surprise, to see a familiar small girl with short light green hair, wide violet eyes, pitch white skin and a drum tied around her waist so it rested on her chest.

"_Uzura_? What are you doing here?" he asked, before adding as an afterthought, "Where have you _been_ all this time?"

"Fakir, you're _not_ going to be like Drosslemeyer, are you-zura?" Uzura answered him with her chirp of a question.

"_Drosslemeyer_?" Fakir repeated. "No. What are you going on about?"

"Drosslemeyer said you were going to be like _him_-zura!" Uzura said, her eyes slightly suspicious. "What did he mean-zura?"

"_Drosslemeyer_ said that?" Fakir recurred, sounding half disbelieving. "Is _that_ where you've been, Uzura? Inside the story?"

"_What did he mean-zura_?" Uzura inquired again more firmly.

"I don't know," Fakir told her tiredly. "I'll _never_ be like him."

"Then you're _not_ ignoring Ahiru-zura?"

Fakir shook his head firmly. "I would never do that."

"Oh," Uzura whispered, looking around the room. "Where _is_ Ahiru-zura?"

"She-"

Fakir looked around the room as well, and his face grew confused. Then the confusion left, and the writer shrugged, slight regretful that she wasn't there.

"I guess she must've gone to the lake by herself…"

Uzura gave Fakir a very beady, solemn look for such a small, lovable puppet-turned-girl.

"Don't ignore Ahiru-zura."

With those words, little Uzura ran off beating her drum, where to Fakir didn't even attempt to guess.

'_Ignoring her…'_ Fakir thought, looking down and feeling guilty. _'Am I really ignoring her? No…I'm doing the opposite…I can't stop thinking about her…'_

This thought almost made him feel worse.

'_I wish I could ignore her…just enough to be satisfied with her as a duck. But I just can't make myself ignore that wonderful feeling of comforting her and holding her and dancing with her…I just can't ignore the longing in her eyes when she watches people dancing and laughing…'_

Fakir turned back to the empty page on his desk and picked up his quill once more determinedly.

'_I won't ignore it.'_

* * *

"Uzura, you little _pest_!" Drosslemeyer complained, turning from the gear image of Fakir so he could glare at the returning Uzura. "Keep your nose out of this; you're ruining the lovely tragedy! You really _are_ like Edel…"

Uzura gave the old storyteller a very sour look. "Fakir _not_ going to be like you-zura! He said so-zura!"

"Well, we'll see about _that_," Drosslemeyer answered coolly. "Seems to me the Knight isn't putting much of a _fight_, heh, heh…of course, he's the useless knight for a _reason_!"

Uzura looked at the gear image of Fakir both worriedly and determinedly. "Fakir won't forget Ahiru-zura. He _won't_-zura."

* * *

"Once upon a time," Fakir read his words as he wrote them, "there was a writer who was in love with a duck. This duck had once been human, but had had to give up her humanity to save a prince. The writer wanted to make the duck happy, and so thought to turn her into a human once more. But all he could do was write…so he asked the story to make him write her tale so he could give it a happy ending." 

As soon as Fakir finished writing those words, his hand shot unbidden across the page, writing words Fakir had never thought of writing.

"W-what the-?"

Fakir had almost not expected anything to happen and, if he had, he wouldn't have expected it so suddenly.

"Once upon a time…there was a princess named Tutu…"

'_Wait…this isn't Ahiru's story! I don't want to write about Tutu!'_

He tried pulling his hand off of the page, but his hand was so forcefully writing he couldn't make it do anything, almost as if Drosslemeyer had taken control of his writing like he had in _The Prince and the Raven_.

'_Damn it! Why is this happening? Ahiru isn't Tutu! What did I do wrong?'_

Fakir's vision went back to the page in time to catch sight of a name forming that would start sentences to answer his question.

His eyes widened.

"_Prince Siegfried_."

* * *

Ahiru swam a lonely path around the lake, looking up hopefully at the slightest noise that might prompt Fakir's arrival. 

Again, however, Fakir wasn't coming.

Ahiru looked back at her reflection in the deep, blue depths of the lake.

'_I wonder if Fakir's alright…'_

She remembered trying to talk to him, only to have him be too focused on his writing to hear her, and involuntarily felt hurt.

'_Fakir likely had his reasons…I shouldn't doubt him like this…but is it really wrong for me to be worried?'_

Some of Helios's words from so long ago returned to the top of her mind.

* * *

"_**Drosslemeyer became obsessed with writing after he wrote my story with only his power, instead of merely finishing stories that had gone into motion, and eventually became so ambitious and heartless with his stories that he drove his family away…"**_

* * *

'_But Fakir would never do that! He'd never let something like that happen!'_

Ahiru's dream of Fakir returned to her mind.

* * *

_**Before Ahiru knew what was happening, Fakir had moved gracefully to her side, moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her tenderly.**_

_**Ahiru blushed. **_**'F-Fakir?'**

_**His arms were warm, just like they had been when Fakir had picked her up as a duck so long ago when she was crying for him; Ahiru involuntarily relaxed into his touch.**_

_**Just then a teardrop fell from above Ahiru's head, landing on the lake's surface with a very tiny splash.**_

_**Ahiru looked up in worry at Fakir, whose eyes were wet with tears of unfulfilled dreams, but whose mouth was still forced upward in a smile of normality.**_

* * *

'_Is he really hurting so much? He looked so dedicated to that story…but his eyes were passionate like there was nothing more important…what if he ends up being like Drosslemeyer trying to finish that story? What if he…?'_

Ahiru's ocean-like eyes filled up with tears just thinking about what could happen to her friend.

'_Fakir…'_

A single tear fell from her eye onto the surface of the lake, almost exactly how Fakir's had in her dream, making the water ripple so that blurred her reflection.

As her reflection began to come back into focus, Ahiru noticed a white and brown shape behind her that she hadn't noticed before.

When her reflection finally cleared, Ahiru realized that it was a huge bald eagle sitting on a branch of a tree right behind her.

"_QUAAAAACK_!"

She jumped away just as the eagle's claws sunk into the spot she had just been.

The duck flapped around as she tried to escape the pursuing eagle, desperately searching for someplace to hide. She dove underneath the water and under the dock, but no matter where she went, the eagle still kept chasing her, screaming its eagle cry loudly.

'_Fakir…Fakir, where are you?' _Ahiru thought desperately.

* * *

Unfortunately Fakir was in no position to help, even if he had known Ahiru was in trouble. His hand was still almost chained to the page as it wrote more words of Tutu and Mytho.

'_But where is Ahiru?'_ he thought impatiently as his writing hand moved to a new page. _'How does Ahiru fit into all this?'_

* * *

"QUACK! _QUACK_!"

Ahiru had to flap herself up onto the dock to escape the eagle when its claws almost grabbed her tail. When the duck got up onto the wooden planks, she ran into the woods around Kinkan Town in an attempt of retreat, but the eagle still hounded after her.

'_Fakir!'_ Ahiru thought feverishly, praying with everything in her that Fakir by some miracle would hear her. _'Fakir, help me!'_

* * *

But Fakir couldn't have heard her; he could only hear her while writing of her progress in a story, and the story he was writing now hadn't mentioned Ahiru at all. Not only that, but Ahiru's story was only being written so Fakir's story of himself learning Ahiru's past could become real.

Just as Fakir's hand started to become tired from writing so fast for so long, words were spelled out to start to create an ending…

…And in that ending were the answers Fakir had been searching for.

'_Ahiru is…' _

Fakir was so overwhelmed. He had done it. He'd started her story again…and now he could finish it, without creating a whole new story for her!

'_Ahiru!'_

Fakir pulled himself away from the page so hard that he fell off his chair onto the floor, but he didn't care, instead scrambling up off the floor and running out of the antique store to find Ahiru.

'_I can't believe it! I did it! I really did it, Ahiru! I can change you back!'_

His emerald eyes were overly bright and he was smiling through his breathless pants as he ran through town toward the lake. Everyone who had seen him could identify the look on his face as that of a man in love.

When Fakir reached the forest surrounding the lake, his excitement became too much for him.

"Ahiru!" he called.

To his surprise, the duck suddenly ran right past him, quacking in loud fear.

"Ahiru, what's-?"

Fakir couldn't finish his question, for he had had to duck so a brown shape coming toward him didn't collide with him.

When he looked up at the shape more closely, he realized it was an eagle…and it was chasing Ahiru in a predatory manner.

"_Ahiru_!"

The duck found herself trapped between the eagle and a tree, and looked around frantically for some form of escape, to find none. She closed her eyes in terror.

But when the eagle should've grabbed her, a shadow moved in front of Ahiru, Fakir's voice let out a battle cry and the eagle cried out angrily.

Ahiru opened her eyes to find Fakir fighting the eagle off with a tree branch, slashing the giant bird with it as if the branch were a sword.

"Eat any bird you like, but _leave her alone_!" Fakir shouted angrily despite the fact the eagle logically couldn't have understood him.

The eagle, however, didn't seem to want to follow Fakir's advice. It flew right at him, just barely dodging a blow of his mighty tree branch, before swooping around him and down to the ground so it could grab Ahiru.

"QUACK!" cried Ahiru, squirming in the eagle's grip as the larger bird flew her up higher into the air. "QUACK-QUACK!"

"_Ahiru_!" Fakir shouted, his eyes filled with fear. "Hold on, I'll-"

His eyes widened as the eagle flapped one of its wing with an almost flourish toward one of the trees, and an endless-looking, almost-black hole-like sphere opened up in front of it.

It was a portal.

The eagle flew toward the portal, and Fakir immediately ran after it.

But just as he was about to grab the eagle and pull it to the ground, his foot caught on a tree root.

Fakir felt his face, chest and legs collide with the dirt as he fall to the ground, just as the eagle and Ahiru flew through the portal and the portal vanished.

The writer was left to stare, dumbstruck, at where the portal had been.

'_This…can't be…'_

He scrambled up, pounding the tree in a vain attempt to open the portal again.

'_This can't be…Ahiru is…no!'_

Fakir's legs weakened and he fell to his knees, his shoulders shaking and his head bowed in shame and grief. His eyes filled up with tears of anguish, before he thrust his head back like a wounded dog and cried her name.

"_AHIRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU_!"

His angst-filled shout was so loud everyone in the whole town could hear him, though no one knew why he was shouting.

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"**_Moondance"_:starts after Fakir states his story's first sentence, with his hand suddenly "shooting unbidden across the page" at the first drumbeat at 0:19. Fakir murmurs "Prince Siegfried," at 0:45 and the scene moves to Ahiru at the lake as the music moves to a softer movement. Ahiru starts her thoughts of Fakir at 0:52; her tear hits the surface of the lake at 1:44, her blurred reflection comes back into focus in that pause, and then she abruptly jumps away to escape the eagle at 1:51. She dives underneath the water at 1:57, swimming and running away, until the scene shifts to Fakir writing at 2:12 and Fakir starts a new page at 2:15. The scene shifts back to Ahiru at 2:18, then once more to Fakir at 2:23. Fakir has his moment of realization at 2:31 and falls out of his chair onto the floor at 2:38, scrambling out the door to find Ahiru. Fakir calls for Ahiru at 2:49, before Ahiru runs past him; Fakir has to duck as the eagle flies after her at 2:54. Fakir first protects Ahiru from the eagle with the tree branch at 3:08 at the first "Hey!" chant. Ahiru is seized at 3:14, and the portal is first opened at 3:21. Fakir trips at 3:25 and falls at 3:26, the eagle and Ahiru disappear through the lessening portal at 3:27 and the portal closes as the piece ends at 3:28.**

**The piece _"Moondance"_ is by Nightwish.**


	11. Act 36: Return to Kinkan Town

_**Once upon a time there was a naïve prince. He wasn't even old enough to start thinking about marriage, and yet he had to rule his large kingdom all by himself when his parents passed away. When war started between his kingdom and another due to a misunderstanding, the prince had the power to clear it up and end the war. But the prince, too innocent to recognize his responsibility, preferred to stay in his own little world and let the war rage on.**_

* * *

**Act 36: Return to Kinkan Town**

**(((The Beast Lets Belle Go)))**

Rue ran a brush through her black hair while eyeing herself in the long mirror on the wall of the room she and Mytho were sharing.

Gachou had been very lucky to find a tavern had started business just outside of Cygnus, and the tavern's owner had no problem with hosting royalty and allowed them to stay as long as was necessary.

"Rue," Mytho spoke from his spot near the window, "are you…really all right?"

Rue looked at her prince's reflection in the mirror. "Why do you ask?"

"The ravens at the palace…even scared _me_," Mytho murmured, half to himself and half to her. "I can only imagine how scared you were to see them."

Rue turned to him, her scarlet eyes very serious. "It doesn't matter; I won't let my fear bring you down, ouji. Besides…to be scared of the ravens would be to be scared of who I was, and if _that's_ not a fool's fear, I don't know _what_ is."

Abruptly a knock sounded on the door, before Gachou peeked inside hesitantly.

"Many pardons, your Highnesses…your cardinal has just found us, and he had this tied to his leg."

The attendant held up a scroll of paper. Mytho immediately got up from the window-seat and took it from him.

"Fakir wrote back?" asked Rue, slightly scornful. "It's about time! I was starting to wonder if he'd _ever_ answer."

Then she noticed Mytho looking oddly uneasy as he peered at the scroll of paper.

"This handwriting…it's not Fakir's."

"_What_?"

"It's not," recurred Mytho. "I _know_ Fakir's handwriting. But who could've…?"

There was a short silence, before Mytho unrolled the letter and read it out loud.

* * *

_**Prince Siegfried and Princess Rue, **_

_**We have never met, but know I am a friend to Fakir-chan. Ahiru-chan is in danger and Fakir-chan is wallowing in despair because he feels responsible. Siegfried, I know of your friendship with Fakir-chan; you might be one of the few people that could help him right now. As for you, Rue, I know you were friends with Ahiru-chan and you never leave Siegfried's side, so I presume I shall see you in Kinkan as well.**_

_**Please come quickly.**_

_**Madame Ruza**_

* * *

"Madame Ruza?" Rue repeated, half worried and half suspicious. "Mytho…do you think she's telling the truth? That Ahiru's in danger?"

"I don't know, Rue," Mytho replied, "but if we _don't_ go, the consequences likely will be far worse than if we do, so for now, we have to trust that she is."

He then turned to Gachou and added, "Prepare the carriage with swans; Rue and I must return to Kinkan Town as soon as possible."

* * *

Mytho looked down from his spot in the flying gold carriage he and Rue had last used departing from Kinkan Town, feeling an odd combination of happiness at returning to his old home and worry toward what may meet them.

"Should we check the Academy?" Rue asked Mytho.

Mytho shook his head. "If I know Fakir, he wouldn't want to be split between ballet and writing. Studying ballet would give him no time to write."

His grip tightened around the reins of the swans leading the gold carriage, and moved them in the direction of Charon's antique shop. As they began to descend, however, something outside the shop caught the prince's eye.

"Another carriage?" Mytho murmured.

The Cygnus carriage landed with a gentle _thump_ on the ground beside the other white, horse-drawn carriage. Mytho disembarked, before offering Rue a hand out. Just as Rue stepped out, the other carriage door opened and two royal-garbed strangers stepped out.

The male of the two had semi-long light brown hair, gray eyes and a four-claw-marked scar on his left cheek, and was dressed in a crown with silver engravings etched on the gold, a puffy-sleeved dark blue tunic with a robin adorning the shoulder and brown pants and shoes.

The young woman accompanying the man had short chocolate brown hair, purple eyes and a serious burn across her neck and down her left shoulder, and was dressed in an amethyst-decked gold tiara, a purple gown with a wide skirt and shoulder-length puffy sleeves and gold slippers.

As if sensing their gaze, the two strangers turned to Mytho and Rue.

"Hello," the man said formally. "May I ask as to your business with Fakir-san?"

"You know Fakir?" inquired Rue.

"He has helped us so much we'll never be able to fully repay him," the young woman answered for him. "Are you friends of his?"

"Yes," replied Mytho. "Fakir has helped us as well, as has Tutu."

"Tutu?" the man repeated, confused, before his expression cleared. "_Ah_, you mean _Ahiru-san_! Yes, she has as well."

"_Ahiru_?" recurred Mytho, frowning. "No, I mean-"

"Ahiru was Tutu," Rue explained to him.

Mytho looked disbelieving. "She _was_?"

Rue nodded. Mytho's amber eyes widened.

"Why didn't she say anything?"

"Well, would _you_ have in her situation?" scoffed Rue. "Ahiru was a _duck_, and a horrible dancer when human…and all you saw of her was Princess Tutu."

Mytho stared at Rue, before he nodded in understanding. "Perhaps it was better that way. If I'd known Ahiru was Tutu as a raven, I could've hurt her."

The strangers didn't understand what was going on, but still smiled at the two.

"I am Prince Helios," the man introduced himself, before gesturing to the young woman, "and this is my princess, Demi."

"I'm Prince Siegfried," Mytho replied, "but you may call me Mytho…and this is Rue, my princess."

"You're the prince from _The Prince and the Raven_," Helios realized, smiling. "Fakir-san spoke of you. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

"You're here to help Fakir," Rue murmured. "Then do you know a _'Madame Ruza_?'She's the one who wrote to us saying Ahiru and Fakir were in trouble."

"Madame Ruza is a friend of ours," Demi answered. "She wrote to us as well…did she say anything to you about what _happened_ to Ahiru-chan?"

Rue shook her head. Worry came to both Demi and Helios's faces.

"Well then," Mytho stated determinedly as he moved to the door of Charon's shop, "we need to find Fakir and have him tell us what happened."

He knocked on the door firmly. After a moment, the door opened to reveal the light-brown-haired, dark-eyed, middle-aged man known as Charon.

"_Mytho_!" he recognized the young man he had adopted as his second son after Fakir had found him as a boy.

"It's good to see you again, Charon," Mytho said with a smile, before turning serious. "Is Fakir here?"

Charon looked somber. "Yes…he's been up in his room for hours. He went up to his room after breakfast, and then around late morning he ran outside as if he'd just finished his life's work…but when he returned…I don't know what happened…but Fakir's eyes were so _empty_. He stumbled in here like he was the living dead walking abroad. He didn't look at me, even when I tried asking him what was wrong…he went back up to his room and stayed there."

"Have you seen Ahiru?" asked Rue, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Ahiru?" recurred Charon, thinking. "Now that I think on it, not since she left for the lake this morning…and that's _very_ strange. She's always with Fakir."

Mytho, Rue, Helios and Demi each brushed pass Charon into the shop and then upstairs toward Fakir's room.

Mytho was the first to get to the door and tried opening it, to find it locked.

"_Fakir_! Fakir, it's me, Mytho!"

There was a rustling noise from inside, but no vocal answer.

"Fakir-sama?" Demi called, knocking gently. "It's Demi! Please open the door!"

Still Fakir didn't answer.

"For crying out loud," snapped Rue, moving past Mytho and Demi to the door.

She brought her hand up to reveal a raven feather between her point and middle fingers. She moved the feather between the door and the doorway and forced it in a sharp downward movement so that it sliced the door's lock in half.

"Rue?" Mytho said in surprise.

Rue shrugged in dull dolor. "Being a raven teaches you a few tricks."

She sighed, before pushing the door open.

Fakir's room was completely trashed, as if the writer had been so angry with himself that he had decided to take it out on his innocent room. His bed covers were disheveled, scraps of paper and broken inkpots littered the floor and the curtains were drawn messily over the windows to block sunlight from entering.

As for the writer himself, he practically lay across his desk, his arm stretched out across it toward the quill at the end of the table as if he'd only just let go of it and his face lifeless as if he had gotten severely drunk.

Mytho went over to him and put his hands on his shoulders, shaking him lightly.

"Fakir? Fakir, are you all right?"

Fakir looked up at Mytho with a very dead expression.

"Mytho, what…what are you _doing_ here?" he rasped.

"That's _exactly_ the question _I_ want to ask!" Mytho answered worriedly. "Fakir, what did you do to your room? Where's Tutu?"

Fakir's head shot up at him, his emerald eyes as wide and blank as they had been when Ahiru had said she knew he could write stories that came true.

"You…_know_?"

"Madame Ruza wrote to us and said Ahiru-chan was in trouble," explicated Demi, her voice also filled with worry.

"Damn that meddlesome Ruza," Fakir muttered, his eyes falling to the floor and narrowing, before sighing deeply and continuing. "Yes, it's my fault…it's my fault that she's gone, probably hurt or worse…"

"But _why_, Fakir-san?" Helios inquired. "What happened to Ahiru-san?"

"I…I was just trying to write about her," Fakir murmured, sounding like he was barely answering Helios's question and instead thinking out loud. "She gave us _everything_…both as Tutu _and_ as a seemingly useless duck…and I'm such a baka that I decided to start her story from scratch!"

Both Demi and Mytho gasped in horror.

"You _what_?" Rue whispered, both disbelieving and furious.

"I put my desires first and forgot all about the consequences!" Fakir growled at himself in furious anguish, slamming his fist against his desk. "And now…and now I've lost her _forever_!"

There was a silence. Rue at first looked ready to murder Fakir, before she moved toward him, her face extremely white.

"Yes, you have."

"_Rue_!" Mytho reproved, surprised by her words.

"It's true," Rue stated, her red eyes vehement. "You _have_ lost her, Fakir. You _have_ lost her, because you're not _bothering_ to help her!"

Fakir looked up at her, his eyes again dangerously blank. "What are you _saying_?"

"I'm saying that you're _pathetic_," Rue retorted, becoming angrier with every word. "Ahiru's in danger, and all you can do is feel _sorry_ for yourself! Ahiru _never_ sat by and decided she could do nothing when any of us were in danger! I thought you were determined to _not_ be a useless knight, so get up, stop being useless and do something to help Ahiru!"

Fakir stared at Rue for a very long time.

"A dreamer cannot influence reality until he decides to move out of his fantasy."

The group turned to the violet-haired, brown-eyed witch called Madame Ruza as she stepped out of the doorway toward Fakir.

"So young writer, what will it be? Wake up to reality, or dream uselessly?"

Fakir peered at her sourly for a moment.

"I hate you," he muttered.

After a pause, however, he finished, "But…thanks."

"It's what I do," Madame Ruza replied, smiling. "Now write a path to her."

Fakir reached across his desk to grab his quill, nodding firmly, before dipping the quill in a new inkbottle and starting to write.

"_'Once upon a time…there was a duck who was captured by an eagle. A writer…a friend of the duck…vowed to rescue her…and created a portal…so that he and his companions could follow the duck and her eagle captor.'_"

* * *

"QUACK!" Ahiru cried when the woods and Fakir vanished as the portal closed.

She squirmed in the eagle's claws, quacking in both anger and beseeching.

'_Let go of me, you weird eagle! Where are you taking me? Let me go!'_

Ahiru looked down and suddenly wished she hadn't told the eagle to drop her; she was very high in the air indeed. As she looked down, though, she noticed the setting the eagle was flying over was nothing near Kinkan Town.

It was a lake that looked a bit like the one Ahiru often swam around while Fakir wrote stories. This lake, however, was covered in an ominous fog and was surrounded by thick trees creating a forest that seemed to meld into the never-ending darkness of the unknown.

'_It…looks just like the lake in my dreams!'_ Ahiru thought. _'Have I…been here before?'_

The eagle holding her cried out as if calling for someone and, to Ahiru's surprise, birds in trees around the lake made themselves known with their own calls.

'_They sound…happy,'_ Ahiru thought, before suddenly panicking. _'Ah! What if they're happy with having duck for dinner?'_

"_Qua!_" she cried fretfully. "Quack-qua _quack_!"

The surrounding birds rose from their places on tree branches and flew to rest on the lake's surface. Now that they were no longer hidden by the trees' shadows, Ahiru could see they were a blue jay, a blackbird, a snowy owl and a hawk.

The eagle flew down onto the lake with them, and Ahiru squirmed even more as her feet began to sink into the water, quacking loudly out of the fear that the eagle was trying to drown her. She stopped, however, when the eagle gave a reproachful cry in her direction as if to tell her to be quiet and as the eagle gave its cry, Ahiru found herself bathed in moonlight.

She looked up at the full moon that had just found its place above them, and then around at the birds that had closed their eyes as if praying.

Ahiru felt the eagle's claw release her. She would've run, but a strange feeling had washed over her when the moonlight touched her, and she suddenly felt the odd sensation of growing that she had felt in her dreams with Fakir.

As suddenly as the moonlight had focused an almost spotlight on Ahiru and the other birds, it had returned to simply glowing around the lake.

Ahiru peered at her reflection in the lake and gave a surprised "_QUACK_!"

_She was human. _

She wore the same light yellow, wide-skirted dress and white wing pendant she had in her more recent dreams and her hair was tied up in an elegant bun. All that was different in her human form were the two large, bright yellow wings blossoming from her back that made her look like a duck-winged angel.

'_W-what?'_ Ahiru wondered, fingering the yellow feathers. _'Why do I have wings?'_

"_Finally_!"

Ahiru was thrown off balance as someone practically pounced on her, shouting at the top of his lungs in unadulterated excitement.

"_Gracias Dios_, you _found_ her! I _knew_ you would do it! I _knew _she was alive! Didn't I _tell_ you all? I _knew_ chibi hime was all right somewhere!"

"_Octahobka_!" snapped another man. "Do you want to scare her half to death?"

The grip around Ahiru left, and the girl turned toward the sources of the voices, to see five men where the five birds had been on the surface of the lake.

Where the blue jay had sat now stood a teenage man with curly cobalt hair, sky blue eyes, a Spanish tan and blue-jay-like wings dressed in a puffy-sleeved white shirt under a blue vest, black pants, gray tap shoes and a black Flamenco hat.

Where the blackbird had sat now stood a male teenager with long black-brown hair, black eyes, an Arabian tan and blackbird-like wings dressed in a black shirt with loose see-through sleeves, black harem pants and gold pointed-toe slippers.

Where the owl had sat now stood an old yet healthful man with white hair and a beard, piercing yellow eyes under gold glasses and snowy owl wings dressed in a black-speckled white shirt, white velvet pants and white ballet shoes.

Where the hawk had sat now stood a young man with dark gray hair, thin-lidded orange eyes and hawkish wings dressed in an orange and brown patterned Chinese kimono, dark gold pants and matching toe shoes.

And when Ahiru turned to the eagle that had grabbed her, she instead found a man with blond hair, brown eyes and eagle wings dressed in a over-sized brown shirt, bronze pants tucked into brown boots and a furry Russian-styled hat.

"Who…who _are_ you?" Ahiru stammered, looking at each of the strangers nervously. "Where am I? W-what's this all about?"

The young men all looked alarmed. The most alarmed, however, was the blue-haired Spanish man that had jumped on her earlier.

"Chibi hime, it's _us_!" he implored Ahiru desperately. "Don't you remember _anything_? Us…Cygnus…the ravens…don't you _remember_?"

Ahiru wasn't sure how to reply. The man who had been the eagle looked ready to grab her shoulders and shake her, but the old man held up a hand to stop him.

"No…I had thought this might happen. Escaping into the outside world and living as a duck for so long has caused her memories to corrode."

'_Memories?'_ Ahiru repeated inwardly. _'Outside world? What's he talking about?'_

The old man stepped toward the duck-turned-girl, his yellow eyes solemn.

"We'll have to help her memory reawaken…gentlemen, aid me your memories."

The men all raised a hand toward Ahiru, and before she knew what was happening, white light shot from each of their hands, blinding her.

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Translation Notes:**

**"_Gracias Dios"_ **-** "Thank God" in Spanish **

**"****_Octahobka" _- "Stop" in Russian**

**Music Notes:**

"**_The Beast Lets Belle Go"_: starts when Rue opens the door to Fakir's room. Fakir's eyes widen at 0:22, before he whispers, "You…know?" Helios questions Fakir at 0:35, and Fakir finally bursts out that he started Ahiru's story again at the crescendo before 0:50, upon which Demi, Mytho and Rue react. Fakir shouts that he has lost Ahiru forever at 1:03. The group turns to Madame Ruza at 1:51 and Ruza starts her "so what will it be…?" phrase at 1:53. Fakir says, "I hate you," right before 2:5, and the piece ends as Fakir sits down to write a path to Ahiru.**

"**_Coda"_: starts as Ahiru's quacking at the eagle to "let her go" ends. The birds in the trees call at 0:14, and the piece ends at 0:25.**

**The piece _"The Beast Lets Belle Go"_ is from the "_Beauty and the Beast"_ original motion picture soundtrack. **

**The piece _"Coda"_ is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet _"The Nutcracker."_**


	12. Act 37: The Princess and the Vulture 1

_**Once upon a time there was a girl. She lost her memory in an accident that separated her from her family. The girl wandered around, trying to determine who she was, and in that time she created a new life for herself. She found a new town and fell in love with a wonderful man. When her family finally found her and brought her back home, the girl was happy to see them again…but her old home no longer felt like home, and the girl was no longer the girl her family had once known.**_

* * *

**Act 37: The Princess and the Vulture (Part 1)**

**(((Cry)))**

When Ahiru opened her eyes, she found herself in another strange place.

"Where…where am I _now_?" she thought out loud.

She was in the main hall of a marble palace with detailed tapestries on the walls, a swan statue adorning the grand staircase and silk curtains. The colors of the castle, however, were all different shades of brown as if the scenery was a water-damaged painting. Many rooms branched out from the hall, but an odd mist hovered over them, blurring them so one couldn't identify what kind of rooms they were…a mist that reminded Ahiru strongly of the mist that surrounded the lake she had always dreamed of and had just been in.

Looking around for some form of life, Ahiru raised her voice and called,

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"This is a memory," a voice behind her stated quietly. "No one will answer you."

Ahiru clamped her hands over her mouth to hold back a quack of surprise, turning to see the stranger with owl wings from back at the lake.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked. "What is this place? Why is it covered…?"

"In mist?" the old man finished for her, gesturing around. "This is a mental recreation of our home…and _your_s too, at one point…but you have lost most of your humanity from being in the outside world for so long, and have therefore forgotten your human life."

"B-but I'm _not_ human!" Ahiru insisted, feeling very nervous since she didn't know what was going on. "I-I'm just a _duck_!"

"You will only be just a duck," the man murmured, his yellow eyes flashing in both sadness and anger, "if my idea fails and your mind doesn't respond to our memories. We shall start with _my_ memories, now…!"

The elder abruptly vanished, and Ahiru felt herself being tugged up the grand staircase. Her feet left the floor…colors swirled around her vision…

And she found herself in the doorway of a room, full of animated color and life.

The walls were a delicate pale yellow and were covered with child-quality crayon drawings of princesses and prima ballerinas, and porcelain dolls and stuffed animals were scattered on the floor.

Sitting in front of a white bureau was a girl no older than eight dressed in a sunny yellow ball gown with her shoulder-length curly red hair tied back in a matching bow. She was looking at her reflection in a hand mirror, smiling as she played with a gold necklace around her neck. On the necklace was a gold heart-shaped locket with a swan etched on it, and it seemed like it was something the girl had only recently acquired but loved very much.

Ahiru walked over to the girl, her blue eyes wide.

'_This girl looks like me when I was human…is this the girl those men think I am?'_

Tinkling music played in the background, drawing Ahiru's attention to a black velvet music box on the bureau in the front of the girl. The tune, so much like a mother's lullaby, warmed Ahiru's heart in a way she couldn't explain.

"You look _lovely_, granddaughter," came an amused voice from the doorway.

Ahiru whirled around to find the white-haired stranger from before in the doorway she'd just been in. He looked different, however. His beard was shorter, he was plumper and dressed in violet silk and most importantly he did not have the snowy owl wings his modern counterpart had.

'_Wait!'_ Ahiru thought suddenly. _'Did he just call that girl his granddaughter?'_

A preteen boy then peeked out from behind the old man to smile at the little girl.

Ahiru couldn't hold back a shocked "_Quack_!"

_It was Mytho. _

He was younger and he was dressed in a pearl white velvet tunic and white pants that Ahiru hadn't seen him in before, but there was no mistaking his messy white hair, lean danseur figure and caring amber eyes.

'_These strangers knew Mytho,'_ Ahiru realized. _'Mytho before he lost his heart!'_

The red-haired girl scrambled up from her stool so she could run over to the younger Mytho and give him a huge hug.

"This is so _exciting_, ni-chan!" the little girl chirped, her blue eyes shining.

'_Brother?'_ Ahiru recurred inwardly, her eyes widening. _'This girl is Mytho's…!'_

Mytho (or, as Ahiru remembered he was called in the past, "Siegfried") smiled fondly at the little girl as their grandfather and they started down the hall.

"I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun, Odette."

Ahiru felt herself gliding above the floor alongside the old man out of her control, but was too interested in the siblings' conversation to really notice.

"But what about _you_, ni-chan?" Odette inquired, frowning slightly. "You love everyone…but don't you want to actually fall in love with somebody? Choose one over all of them?"

"I don't know if I _could_," responded Siegfried, looking thoughtful. "It seems _unfair_ to love one person more than everyone else."

"But what if the person is really _special_ to you?" asked Odette. "Don't you want someone you can talk to and laugh with?"

Siegfried gave his little sister a smile. "Don't worry about me, Odette. I have you, dou-sama and jii-sama…and you know I love you most of all."

Odette looked hesitant, but nodded. "Well…all right, ni-chan, if you're really _okay_ with it…but I just want the _best_ for you. I'll always be there for you, you know that, right?"

Siegfried smiled. "Of course I do."

The old man and the two children started down the grand staircase, to find a middle-aged man waiting for them at the bottom.

'_Fakir?'_ Ahiru thought in shock.

A second later, she corrected herself. The man had his strawberry blond hair tied back in a ponytail like Fakir's often was, and his amber eyes were similar to Fakir's too…but the man smiled in a way Fakir never had: a way a proud father would as his child first went off to school.

"King Baltazar," the red-haired man greeted the elder with an amicable hug.

"My dear son-in-law, such _formalities_!" Baltazar responded as he patted the younger man heartily on the back. "How goes you, Lohengrin?"

'_Lohengrin…?'_ Ahiru thought, disbelieving. _'The knight? But if he's Baltazar-san's son-in-law…that means…Lohengrin is Mytho's father!'_

"I am well, thank you," replied Lohengrin. "And the formalities shall _remain_, your Highness. I may be called a prince now, but I will _always_ be a knight of Cygnus, so don't _bother_ trying to change me."

"_Dou-chan_!"

Odette ran to Lohengrin, and the red-haired knight picked her up and whirled around in the air, laughing fondly.

A smile came to Ahiru's face at the sight of such fatherly affection.

'_Wow…it's hard to see Fakir as Lohengrin's reincarnation now that I've seen him! Lohengrin's so…happy and polite…and Fakir's brooding and suspicious.'_

Lohengrin placed Odette gently back on the floor, smiling at both Siegfried and her in turn. "My, you both look like _royalty_…now I feel _ashamed_, being unable to match you two!"

He winked playfully. "But nonetheless…I suppose everyone is waiting for us to join them in the great hall. Siegfried, Odette, you go on ahead…your youthful limbs shouldn't have to wait for us old people to catch up."

Odette and Siegfried nodded, before running away toward what could be assumed to be the great hall.

Ahiru made to follow them, but it was as if she were rooted where she stood; no matter how hard she tried pulling herself away from that spot, she couldn't make herself move.

"Has she shown any magical tendencies yet?" murmured Baltazar.

Ahiru turned back around, to see Lohengrin's face was much more serious.

"No," the knight answered quietly. "Are you _absolutely_ certain that Odette inherited part of Tutu's soul?"

'_What?'_ thought Ahiru in confusion. _'Mytho's sister inherited part of Tutu's soul?'_

"There's no doubt of it," Baltazar replied impatiently. "Tutu vanished after giving _birth_ to her…her soul was broken apart into red light…and the light fell over baby Odette as she slept in Siegfried's arms."

'_Wait a minute,'_ Ahiru said to herself, trying to keep all of this new information straight. _'Princess Tutu vanished giving birth to Odette…who is sister to Mytho…who is the son of Lohengrin…Tutu is Lohengrin's wife?! Tutu is Mytho's mother?!' _

She scratched the top of her head frantically in extreme anxiety. _'GAH! This is too much to take in at once!'_

"We know Siegfried has been able to create Tutu's magical flowers and use them to fly since then," Baltazar pushed on gruffly. "He inherited part of her…and Odette did as well!"

The old king then frowned. "But what part of Tutu could Odette have _inherited_, then? Obviously not her magic or her ballet…I can see those went solely to _Siegfried_. So what went to _Odette_?"

"Her character," Lohengrin murmured suddenly.

"What?" Baltazar eyed the younger man with a questioning look.

"Her character," Lohengrin repeated, comprehension coming to his amber eyes. "Haven't you ever wondered why Odette is so wise even though she's so young? She is always giving Siegfried _advice_, even though she's _younger_ than he is. And while Siegfried tries to love everyone as destiny _ordains_ he will, Odette is sincerely kind and helpful to everyone because of who she is."

Baltazar's yellow eyes widened behind his gold glasses. "I see…Odette inherited Tutu's kindness and wisdom."

"Not only _that_, I think," muttered Lohengrin, his hand moving to rest on his mouth pensively. "Tutu…was always _worried_ about Siegfried, you remember?"

"Of course," Baltazar concurred. "She always believed someone would try and take advantage of Siegfried's loving heart…and it seems she's _correct_; after all, we _both_ know of the rumors that the Monster Raven is seeking to eat Siegfried's heart as he has so many others."

"Yes…" Lohengrin seemed deep in thought. "I have heard Odette say to Siegfried often that she's there for him, to help him…even though we know full well she is likely to be quite helpless indeed."

"What are you meaning to convey, Lohengrin?" inquired Baltazar.

"I mean," said Lohengrin, "that Odette has _also_ gained Tutu's role of protector to Siegfried. Odette is in the role that Tutu once was…so, in a way, Odette is the last _real_ piece of Tutu we have. Siegfried earned her magic and dancing…but those are her _gifts_, not who she was."

Ahiru's eyes widened slightly. _'Oh, I get it…so Mytho got Tutu's talents…while Odette got Tutu's personality!'_

"If that's the case," stated Baltazar, his tone becoming grave, "then Odette would be an almost _reincarnation_ of Tutu. I can only hope the fate written for her is not as unfortunate as Tutu's was…"

Lohengrin eyed the door to the great hall with foreboding. Then he turned back to Baltazar seriously.

"We'll have no word of any of this to _anyone_," he whispered more coldly than Ahiru had ever heard him, making him sound a lot like Fakir, "_especially_ not Odette or Siegfried."

"You don't think they should know?" Baltazar asked. "They may find it _comforting_, to have a piece of their mother with them."

"With that, they may have to think of what _else_ they might have gained from Tutu," Lohengrin muttered bitterly, turning away from Baltazar as if to walk toward the great hall.

"They need to be prepared for what may lie ahead," insisted Baltazar. "Fate is a ruthless thing…to resist it brings _glory_, but never _triumph_."

"I want my children to live happily," Lohengrin dissented, his voice filled with a bite he hadn't been using before. "They shouldn't think such things…they're _children_. Siegfried's destiny of having to love everyone has chained him down enough…their innocence is too precious to be soiled by such hopelessness."

"They cannot be happy forever, Lohengrin," reproached Baltazar, "just as you and Tutu couldn't. That is the way things are. One day, if you wish to protect the innocence in them that you treasure so much, you will have to fight with more than simply _words_."

Lohengrin gave Baltazar a testy look without turning fully around, but still struggled to retain his anger in front of the king. "What are you saying?"

"You need either to accept that they will have to fight through life _themselves_," Baltazar responded seriously, "or you will have to fight life tooth and nail so that it never reaches them."

Lohengrin stared at Baltazar for a long moment, his eyes blazing both fiercely and ruefully, before turning away from him.

"I am a _knight_, your Highness. If fate is going to ruin my children's lives as it has mine…I will do everything in my power to protect them from it."

Ahiru watched him leave for the great hall, feeling a pain in her heart.

'_Lohengrin was just like Fakir right then…Fakir before he became a writer…'_

* * *

"_**Listen," Fakir growled at Ahiru as he walked to stand beside her but looking away from her. "Don't get close to Mytho again."**_

_**Ahiru looked at him and felt her heart prickle with fear at the dangerous, flaring look in Fakir's eyes. **_

"_**If you do, I won't just let it go."**_

* * *

'_Trying to protect Mytho and Odette from tragedy…'_

* * *

"_**It's all right now," Fakir assured Mytho, putting his hands on his shoulders, "you don't have to suffer anymore."**_

"_**What are you doing?" Princess Tutu demanded, feeling her worry escalate as Fakir sat Mytho down on the ground.**_

"_**Sit," Fakir spoke to Mytho, ignoring Tutu completely as he held up the prince's swan-adorned sword. "I'll break apart your heart for you once again."**_

* * *

'_Being afraid to fight without words…'_

* * *

"_**Now that the time to fight has arrived, aren't you just scared that you'll follow the same fate as the knight in the story?" inquired Charon coldly.**_

_**Fakir stiffened angrily, his eyes widening and then narrowing. "That's not it!"**_

"_**You've just kept this up because you can't help Mytho get his heart back," Charon plowed on ruthlessly. "I let you go to Kinkan Academy so you could dance as you liked…but that's because you're afraid of fighting!"**_

* * *

_But being determined to protect them, no matter what it took…'_

* * *

_**"Yes, it's as you say, Charon," Fakir murmured from the floor, touching the cheek where Charon had slapped him. "I may be afraid. But…I want to protect him! That pure, unreliable Mytho…"**_

* * *

"Sad, isn't it?" a familiar voice to Ahiru's right spoke suddenly. 

Ahiru turned to see the raven-winged Arabian man from the lake as the scene paused, the living colors turning once more to photograph-like sepias.

"Lohengrin was a knight who had never seen battle, for he couldn't protect anyone with more than words," the tanned, black-haired young man commented vaguely. "I never knew he would be so determined to shield you and Prince Siegfried from harm, hime."

Ahiru was about to protest that she wasn't Odette, but the Arabian held a hand up to silence her.

"My memories are next," he told her, before flourishing his hand and making the room blur as Ahiru felt herself being tugged sharply toward the great hall.

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Translations:**

**Dou-chan / dou-sama - different Japanese forms of "Dad"; "-chan" makes it like "Daddy" and "-sama" makes it a very formal version of "Father"**

**Jii-sama - Japanese for "Grandfather"**

**Name Notes:**

**Baltazar - Phoenician for "protect the king"; name of one of the three kings/wise men that visited newborn Jesus in the Bible**

**Music Notes:**

"**_Prologue"_: starts as Ahiru notices the music box playing, and stops first at 0:30 as Siegfried's presence is revealed. The music again picks up for Odette's "well…all right, ni-chan" chain of speech, with the three walking down the stairs to greet Lohengrin at 0:42, and the piece stopping again at 0:52 after Baltazar and Lohengrin hug. As the Arabian near the chapter's end, the piece sneaks back in, stopping for the final time before the crescendo at 0:55.**

"**_Cry"_: starts at 1:10 as Baltazar starts his "If that's the case…" chain of speech, with his last statement to Lohengrin about fighting fate tooth and nail to protect Siegfried and Odette before 2:31 and Ahiru's thoughts starting at 2:56. The piece ends after the Arabian talks about Lohengrin and Ahiru tries to interrupt. **

**The piece _"Prologue"_ is from the "_Anastasia_" soundtrack.**

**The piece _"Cry"_ is from the _"The Prince of Egypt"_ soundtrack.**


	13. Act 38: The Princess and the Vulture 2

_**Once upon a time there was a princess. She had everything she ever wanted, until a malicious wizard kidnapped her. The wizard cursed the princess, transforming her into a swan until she received a kiss from her true love. Sadly, when the princess's wandering prince finally found her many years later, both the prince and the princess herself couldn't see any humanity left in her.**_

* * *

**Act 38: The Princess and the Vulture (Part 2)**

**(((Prologue)))**

Ahiru felt herself stop as the colorful action around her started once more.

The great hall was indeed great. Richly gowned figures danced around the huge chamber, their colorful images reflected on the polished floors. The intricately beautiful dome ceiling high above them held the image of a white swan with a gold crown on its head and its wings outstretched resting on a lake with pink water lilies floating on it. Tall windows were shining strips on the marble walls, creating moonlighted spotlights to illuminate some of the dancing nobles.

One of the moon-spotlights illuminated Siegfried dancing with a girl with bright blond hair in a bright green dress and a large dark red bow on the top of her head. From far away, it looked as though the girl was dancing any way she liked, totally ignoring that her movements didn't fit with Siegfried's at all, and fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously at the uncomfortable prince.

"Ni-chan isn't having fun at all," Odette's voice came from behind Ahiru.

Turning to her left, Ahiru saw Odette and two boys sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else dance. The first of the boys had lightly tanned skin, curly cobalt hair and bright blue eyes, was dressed in Spanish flamenco attire and had a mandolin in his hand. The other, leaning on a pillar with his arms crossed, had darkly tanned skin and semi-long black hair and eyes and was dressed in black Arabian dancer attire.

It was very easy for Ahiru to see the blue-haired and black-haired young men from the lake in the two little boys beside the princess.

"How could he, chibi hime, when he has to dance with _Inko_?" snorted the blue-haired Spaniard. "I can't _stand_ her! Maybe I should write a song…"

He strummed the strings on his mandolin, singing a sarcastically despondent tune, "**_Inko, Inko courts guys for money…Inko, Inko, you moron…poor ouji won't choose you, for who ever would? Inko, Inko, Inko…_**"

Odette bit back a laugh. The Arabian shook his head, but he was smiling too.

"Everyone's foolish when it come to emotions," he reproached quietly. "Don't scorn Inko-san for that, Carmen."

Carmen gave the Arabian a wry smile. "_Oh_? Are you speaking from _experience_, Krishna? Do you have a little _crush_ we should know about?"

Krishna's tanned cheeks darkened with a flush, and he seemed to be trying to stop himself from looking in a certain direction. "Not one you should know about, if there is one!"

Ahiru glanced at the area where Krishna had sneaked a peek, to see no one but a boy about Siegfried's age with blond hair and brown eyes and dressed in Russian attire. It was the eagle-winged man from the lake, only younger and without wings.

A little ways away from the blond boy, Ahiru saw a younger version of the gray-haired, orange-eyed man from the lake entering the great hall. A small child's sword lay in its sheath at his side, so it was very probable that he was training to become a knight.

Carmen then chuckled; he'd just caught sight of the gray-haired boy as well.

"_All right_!" he breathed, smirking broadly as if he were a fox that had just found his prey. "He's finally shown his face!"

Krishna and Odette glanced over as well; Krishna covered his face with his hand in aggravation, and Odette at once spoke to Carmen pleadingly.

"Carmen-kun…not _here_! This is a royal ball…there are all these people!"

Carmen didn't seem to hear her. His smirk broadened, and he brushed past his friends to sneak around the crowd so that he could move behind the pillar the gray-haired boy had leaned up against.

"Shouldn't we _stop_ him?" Odette asked hesitantly. "Carmen-kun shouldn't be so mean to Li-san…"

Krishna sighed. "I've tried before, and Li only saw me as Carmen's _accomplice_. One day Li will be so anger-driven, he'll get Carmen back enough so that he'll never do it again. Until then…we'll have to let Carmen be his immature self."

There was a loud shriek like a girl's. Ahiru, along with several of the other dancers, turned to see that Carmen had scared Li with a rubber mouse. Others, like Siegfried and Baltazar, didn't seem to need to turn around: likely this scene between the two preteen boys was very common in the palace.

"_CARMEN_!" shouted Li, his orange eyes flashing angrily.

Carmen roared with laughter, running away around the great hall to escape the wrath of the steel-haired boy, making Krishna and Odette sweatdrop.

"Man, I was stupid back then," said a voice suddenly besides Ahiru.

The scenery again froze, turning to sepias, and Ahiru looked to her right to find the older, blue-jay-winged Carmen beside her.

He smiled slightly at Ahiru. "Guess it's my turn, chibi hime."

Ahiru felt herself being pulled once more, but it was only a short way away from where she had been before the colors and action returned.

Younger Carmen panted slightly as his head poked out from behind the pillar Krishna and Odette were waiting at; he looked tired and sweaty, but was still smiling.

"I _love_ it when he screams like that!" the Spanish trickster snickered.

"You're _hopeless_," muttered Krishna, his black eyes narrowed. "I would've thought your mother would've taught you not to pick on people, after all the Gypsy persecution you've been through."

"You want to start something about my mother?" Carmen demanded in a daring sort of voice, getting up in Krishna's face. "Maybe we should talk about _yours_, Mr. I'm-the-Son-of-a-Snobby-Advisor-Who-Married-Someone-Half-His-Age!"

"_Stop it_!" moaned Odette, looking very upset.

Carmen and Krishna's anger vanished at Odette's outburst, and guilt wound onto their faces. There was a short silence, before Carmen started to apologize.

"I'm sorry, chibi hime…I forgot that you don't have a…"

Odette shook her head, smiling slightly to tell him she wasn't mad. Almost involuntarily her hand went to her neck as if to fiddle with her locket…but then she realized it wasn't there.

The princess's eyes widened in horror, looking around frantically. "Kaa-chan's locket! I must've dropped it somewhere!"

Carmen and Krishna immediately scrambled to help their friend find it, around the pillars and on the floor around the dancer's feet.

"I can't believe it!" Odette thought out loud, her blue eyes filling up with tears. "Dou-chan gave it to me and everything…and now it's _gone_!"

"Excuse me," a man suddenly spoke.

Odette, Carmen, Krishna and Ahiru all looked to the source of the voice: a man dressed in a brown cloak. His hood was up so his face was partly in shadow, but his hazel eyes were kind.

"Is this what you are looking for, young one?" he asked Odette, holding up the golden locket dangling on the edge of its golden chain.

Odette's eyes brightened as she took it from him. "_Yes_! Oh thank you, sir…I thought I lost it! How can I ever _repay_ you?"

The man looked around the great hall, before turning back to Odette with a gentle smile. "Well, it does seem to be a lack of female partners…so perhaps _you_ may do me the honor?"

He raised his arms so they were arched above his head, circled his hands and then held out a hand to the young princess.

'"_Will you dance with me?"…'_ Ahiru translated the gesture at once.

Odette blinked, before smiling innocently and taking the older man's hand.

The two danced an odd pas de deux, but it was quite lovely nonetheless. The music playing, once loud and grand, turned to a gentle lullaby-like tune…the same tune, Ahiru realized, of Odette's music box.

As the middle-aged man and the little princess danced, Ahiru suddenly caught a voice singing strange words to the band's music.

"**_On the wind, cross the sea…_**  
_**Hear this song and remember  
Soon you'll be home with me**_  
**_Once upon a December…_**"

'_It's the man,'_ Ahiru realized. _'He knows the words…'_

As the dance stopped, the man gave Odette a smile.

"You remind me so of my dearest friend," he murmured to her. "Your kindness and innocence…do not let them fade, young one."

Odette stared at him, partly confused and partly in awe. "What's your name?"

The man hesitated, before answering very quietly, "My name is Geier."

Odette grinned in return. "I'm Odette! It was nice meeting you, Geier-san!"

And with those words, the little princess ran off into the crowd. Carmen, as well as Ahiru observing, looked at Geier in curiosity, just in time to see his hazel eyes turn red.

Ahiru gasped, but when she looked again, Geier's eyes were hazel again.

'_Am I seeing things?'_ Carmen's voice abruptly rang in her head; his thoughts were playing in her mind since Ahiru was seeing the memory from his perspective.

'_No…'_ Ahiru thought in response, seeing Geier's eyes flash red once more. _'He's being controlled by a raven!'_

'_I should follow him,'_ Carmen thought determinedly.

The Spaniard did just that as Geier receded into the corner of the great hall, and Ahiru felt herself glide along after him through the crowd of dancers. The duck-turned-girl quacked inwardly when she actually passed through one of the dancing couples as if she were a ghost, but calmed down a second later.

'_Oh yeah, this is just a memory…they're shadows. That's why I can go through them.'_

Geier, his eyes now a fierce raven red, looked around at the dancers, until finally his focus rested on Lohengrin as he moved toward Odette, talking to her in a paternal sort of way, and his jaw clenched.

The girl that had been dancing with Siegfried, Inko, had stopped to rest near where Geier was, and peered at him curiously.

"If you're interested in entering the royal family, I'd advise you not to be interested in _her_," she told him coldly.

"What?" Geier asked, obviously not realizing she had been there.

"Princess Odette," Inko explicated. "She's clumsy and stupid…if you wanted any of your children to court the royal heirs, you'd be better off courting her older brother like I am. Siegfried-sama loves everyone, and he's handsome, brave and smart…a much better catch."

"That girl…is a _princess_?" Geier inquired, his eyes widening at the sight of Lohengrin and Odette. "But…that would mean that _Lohengrin_…"

"Prince Lohengrin?" recurred Inko. "I guess if you had a _sister_ or something, you could try and get him…he _is_ a widower. But the baggage might be too _much_ for him…Princess Tutu was quite a _treasure_…"

Carmen and observer Ahiru could see Geier's fists were clenched and shaking fervidly and his eyes were wide and dangerously red. Inko continued talking about Tutu and Lohengrin, unaware of Geier's pent-up emotions, until Geier finally snapped.

Geier's hand grew raven-like claws in a split second, before the strange man moved it in a single violent movement to slash the girl in half.

Both Ahiru and Carmen screamed.

The music stopped abruptly as the crowd turned in response to Carmen's scream. The guests all reacted similarly at the bloody mess on the floor that had been Inko. Odette's eyes were very wide. Siegfried had rushed over to make her look away. Baltazar and Lohengrin stepped in front of the crowd to face Geier.

"Who are you to bring murder here?" Baltazar demanded threateningly.

To the surprise of everyone, particularly Odette, Krishna and Carmen, Geier chuckled menacingly in response.

"What, you don't _recognize_ me, Baltazar?" he inquired mockingly. "I would've thought I would be hard to forget."

And with a flourish of his cape, two large vulture-like wings were able to peek out on either side of his disguise.

The blond boy the eagle-winged man from the lake had been reacted in angry shock. Lohengrin stiffened, his amber eyes widening in unadulterated terror.

"_Geier_!" realized Lohengrin, his voice a carrying whisper.

Geier laughed darkly. "I'm glad you remember me, Lohengrin…you _should_, after almost dying at my hands…but Tutu had to jump in and _protect_ you…well, she's not here _now_…I will finally have my revenge. Know me not as Geier, however…the only name I hold now is _VULTURE_!"

With a rapid flourish, he removed his cloak, and as soon as he did, a barrage of ravens shot out from underneath it. The observers went into total chaos, running every which way to escape the ravens' onslaught. Bodies fell, blood spurting everywhere, as the ravens searched for hearts to eat; those who died, Ahiru knew, didn't have a pure enough heart for them to feast on.

"I'll start my memories now," the hawk-winged Li spoke from beside Ahiru as the scene froze for a moment. "Hime…forgive me…for failing you."

Ahiru abruptly found herself beside the younger Li as he fought some ravens off with his small sword.

Suddenly Ahiru and he in unison caught sight of Siegfried and Odette running for the front entrance, only to be blocked by Vulture.

"_Hime_! _Ouji_!" he shouted, rushing to their side.

The young knight hadn't noticed a raven coming up behind him.

"_Look out_!" Ahiru screamed to the younger Li, forgetting he couldn't hear her.

Fortunately Carmen had jumped out of nowhere and had slammed the raven with his mandolin, making it burst into light particles.

Li turned to see Carmen and Krishna joining him to stand protectively in front of Siegfried and Odette.

"You okay, Li?" Carmen asked him, actually looking concerned.

"Uh…yeah," Li answered, taken aback. "Thanks."

"Hime, ouji," Krishna stated seriously, brandishing a tall candlestick holder that had been on the side of the great hall at Vulture and the ravens as a weapon, "run and find Prince Lohengrin! We'll fight this jerk off!"

"Krishna-kun-" Odette tried to argue, but Siegfried nodded and pulled her away.

"_No_!" Vulture hissed vehemently.

Krishna leapt at the wizard, waving the large candelabrum as if it were a baton. But with a single movement, Vulture's fist collided with his head, knocking him out. Carmen tried to hit him with his mandolin in retaliation, but he also was grabbed and knocked him unconscious.

"_Carmen_!" cried Li.

His thin orange eyes filled with anger, before he charged at Vulture with his sword unsheathed, crying an amateur battle cry. But he only met the same fate as the other two; Vulture broke his sword in two and then knocked him out as well.

The scenery turned to sepias as the eagle-winged man appeared beside Ahiru.

"It seems I'm last, then," he murmured solemnly.

Ahiru shifted so that she was beside the blond boy the eagle-winged man had once been running along the edge of the great hall, slashing at ravens with his own sword until he made it into the entrance hall.

Siegfried and Odette had found Lohengrin, but Lohengrin seemed to be unarmed as the three rushed up the grand staircase, likely so Lohengrin could grab his own weapon. Vulture had defeated Krishna, Carmen and Li and was now flying at the prince and his children, his hands' claws outstretched.

"You can't run from me, Lohengrin!" he taunted.

Brown eyes narrowing dangerously, the blond boy jumped onto the stair banister and shot up it so fast that he was able to run up it to the top. He leapt in front of Lohengrin, Odette and Siegfried and swung his sword in a slashing movement at Vulture. Vulture cried out in pain as the metal collided with skin.

"_Prometheus_!" Siegfried breathed in relief.

Prometheus glanced back at Siegfried. "Siegfried-kun…I'm glad you and Odette are safe."

He then eyed Lohengrin seriously. "Lohengrin-sama…hurry and get out of here! I'll get Vulture…I swear on my mother's _grave_, I will!"

With a vengeful cry, Prometheus again slashed at Vulture, but Vulture was ready this time, and dodged him with ease. Lohengrin and the two royal children again ran, as Prometheus tried protecting their escape.

"Your _mother_, hmm?" Vulture scorned. "Ah yes, the lady _Dachou_…I can see her in you…a naïve _fool_!

Prometheus's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Ki-sama_!"

He shot his sword toward Vulture once more, but this time Vulture caught the sword in its movement, before he kicked Prometheus in the stomach and slammed the sword's hilt into the back of his head.

The scenery began to blur as Prometheus's vision faded, until the blond finally fell unconscious.

Yet the scenery didn't fade.

Ahiru stood in the darkness, her blue eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

'_This memory isn't over…I remember what happened next.'_

At last Lohengrin seized his sword: the straight-hilted sword that Charon would later acquire for his shop and then pass onto Fakir to fight with in _The Prince and the Raven_.

"Siegfried! Odette!" he shouted as Vulture once again approached them. "Get behind me!"

Siegfried did so, as he had been closer to Lohengrin: Odette ran to move behind him as well, but before she could, Vulture snatched her up in one of his claws.

"_Dou-chan_!" Odette screamed. "_Ni-chan_!"

"_Odette_!" both Lohengrin and Siegfried shouted.

His amber eyes flaring furiously, Lohengrin charged at Vulture, lashing at him with his sword. No matter what move he made, however, the knight-turned-prince couldn't seem to hit Vulture.

"You pitiful knight!" roared Vulture. "You can't fight without words…no _wonder_ Tutu died! You couldn't have protected her if you _tried_! Hell…you can't even protect _yourself_!"

A raven flew out of nowhere, claws outstretched…there was a flash of deadly red light, a life-ending cry of pain, a terrified scream of a little girl…and the scenery finally blacked out.

Ahiru stared at the blackness, her eyes wet with tears of resurfacing grief.

_'Dou-chan…ni-chan…'_

* * *

_** I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Translation Notes:****Kaa-chan - Japanese for "mommy"**

**Ki-sama - a very disrespectful Japanese version of "you": generally translated into English as "you bastard"**

**Name Notes:**

**Inko - Japanese for "parakeet"**

**Carmen - Latin for "song"; common Spanish name**

**Krishna - Sanskrit for "black" or "dark"; name of a Hindu god who was an incarnation of Vishnu and killed the king who had murdered his six older siblings**

**Li - Chinese for "strength" or "sharp"**

**Geier - German for "vulture"**

**Prometheus - Greek for "foresight"; name of a Greek Titan who gave men fire and was chained to a rock by Zeus so an eagle could feast on his liver**

**Dachou - Japanese for "ostrich"**

**Music Notes:**

"**_Prologue"_: starts as the chapter begins where it left off last chapter (the crescendo at 0:55), and then stops for the movement to Odette, Carmen and Krishna's actions at 1:20. The music starts again at 1:27 when Odette realizes her locket is missing, with Geier appearing at 1:33 and their dance beginning at 1:47. Geier sings _"Once Upon a December"_ just when the Grand Duchess Marie and Anastasia do on the track. Odette says goodbye to Geier at 2:34, and Geier's eyes flash red at 2:38 and again at 2:43. Geier slashes Inko in half at 3:36. Geier reveals his wings at 3:55, and the ravens are released at the choral crescendo at 4:20. Carmen whacks the raven with his mandolin at 4:38, and Krishna and Carmen are captured at 4:47 and 4:48. Li is captured at 4:57, and pauses before coming back when Vulture and Prometheus start fighting. Odette is captured at 5:38, the scenery blacks out at 5:50 and Ahiru thinks her last sad thoughts as the music ends. **

**The piece _"Prologue"_ and the song _"Once Upon a December"_ is from the "_Anastasia_" soundtrack.**


	14. Act 39: Vulture's Target

_**Once upon a time there were two warring kingdoms. They had been enemies for years and sent every warrior they could to fight against the other's warriors. All that left to fight died without advancing the war to any sort of end. Most tragic of all, because the two kingdoms were so busy fighting each other, they never noticed the advance of a more threatening enemy: a flock of heart-eating ravens.**_

* * *

**Act 39: Vulture's Target**

**(((Divertissement)))**

"_What_?"

Drosslemeyer watched his gear image of Ahiru, his large eyes quite wide and his mouth open as he set down his cup of tea.

"My word…after all this, Ahiru-chan is the lost princess Odette? My, _The Princess and the Vulture_ ended _long_ ago…I suppose since I couldn't finish its sequel, _The Prince and the Raven_, before I died, _The Princess and the Vulture_ somehow continued _without_ me! No _wonder_ Ahiru-chan became Tutu so easily."

The old storyteller then chuckled. "Well, I see the story can create the framework for a beautiful tragedy even when I'm not paying attention! What shall you do, Ahiru-chan, now that you remember who you are? Which life will you lead: the one you _started_ with or the one you _made_ for yourself? For _that_ matter…how will you escape Vulture so that you can live a life at _all_? Ha, ha…"

Uzura peered at Drosslemeyer and the gear image of Ahiru in curiosity, before she ran off toward the portal to the real world, beating her drum in an enthusiastic rhythm.

* * *

'_I remember now…I'm Odette, Princess of Cygnus.'_

Ahiru's mind was moving slowly, but her memories were all rushing back to her.The blackness of her mind began to fill with colorful images as single scenes in her past played rapidly in succession, including one of the misty lake that Prometheus had brought her to when he was an eagle.

'_Vulture brought us to his castle at Musouka Lake after destroying Cygnus…and placed the Curse of Wings on us to stop our escape.'_

A rising sun appeared on her right, being followed by Krishna transforming into a blackbird, Prometheus turning into an eagle, Li turning into a hawk, Carmen changing into a Blue Jay and finally herself changing into a duck. The sky darkened as hours passed at the speed of seconds, until a moon rose and changed a circle of birds on Musouka Lake into the children they'd first been. That image was then replaced by one of Baltazar and Vulture fighting with different-colored magic.

'_Jii-chan used his magic to follow us here, and tried to rescue us…but…'_

Both Baltazar and Vulture were blasted away from each other in a blast of light.

'…_Vulture's and his power were equal. Jii-chan couldn't kill Vulture, but Vulture couldn't kill jii-chan either…'_

Baltazar cried out in pain, hunching over as he began to shrink, his body grew feathers and his voice began a pain-filled hoot until he became a snowy owl.

'_So Vulture cursed jii-chan too, knowing he could stop him from using magic when he was a bird, so Vulture would have more time to improve his magic and kill jii-chan later.'_

Ahiru saw a younger image of herself running determinedly through the trees around Musouka Lake, ignoring protests from Baltazar and her male friends.

'_I became so desperate to break the curse and find ni-chan that I ran off into the forest around Musouka Lake…even though jii-chan kept yelling at me to come back…'_

Abruptly little Odette turned into a duck mid-run. The duck searched frantically for some sign of the lake, but there was no trace of it through the endless mist.

'_And before I knew it…I was a duck again…and I was so lost I couldn't find the lake so I could turn back into a human…'_

Lohengrin, Baltazar, Carmen, Krishna, Prometheus, Li and Siegfried each surfaced above the darkness, before they slowly faded out into nothingness.

_'And the longer I wandered…the more I forgot…until…'_

From the dark appeared a scene of a white-haired boy with lonely amber eyes sitting on the rail of a bridge overlooking a lake, whereupon a little yellow duck was swimming and looking up at the boy with a desire to help him.

_'Ni-chan…'_

* * *

"Are you sure she'll be all right, Baltazar-san?" Krishna inquired worriedly.

"Don't worry," Baltazar assured the Arabian as he lay the sleeping Ahiru down on the grass. "She just needs to rest…recounting one's past and having to connect it with where one is now is very trying on the mind."

Prometheus nodded, placing a hand on Krishna's shoulder. "Odette-chan will be fine, Krishna…you'll see."

Krishna looked at Prometheus, surprised by the comforting gesture, before giving him a grateful smile, his cheeks darkening with a slight blush.

"Wait," Baltazar said suddenly. "Where have young Carmen and Li gone off to?"

The other two looked around, to see Carmen and Li were nowhere to be found.

"_Carmen_?" Krishna called sharply. "_Li-san_!"

Prometheus's brown eyes narrowed. "Perhaps we should go look for them…Baltazar-san, stay with Odette-chan. We shouldn't be long."

And with that, the Arabian and the blond spread their wings and took flight.

* * *

Fakir led the way as he, Mytho, Rue, Demi and Helios walked through the portal from Kinkan Town into the mysterious scenery Fakir's story had taken them.

They found themselves in front of a lake, and when their eyes peered around, they met an endless forest of trees surrounding it. Hovering over the landscape was a dreamy mist that only further emphasized the place's secretive aura.

'_So this is the setting the story has decided for us,'_ Fakir thought, his grip tightening on the shoulder strap of his bag. _'Ahiru…hold on just a little longer…I'll find you.'_

"This is it, Fakir-san?" Helios inquired quietly, and Fakir nodded in response.

"This mist…" Mytho whispered, his amber eyes narrowing slightly. "It's just like the mist in Kinkan Town when the Ghost Knight appeared…"

At Mytho's statement, Fakir realized the mist did indeed have such an eerie appearance. _'Is there some sort of wandering soul here that's unable to rest in peace?'_

Demi suddenly turned abruptly beside Helios to look at the trees.

"What is it, Demi?" Helios inquired.

Demi's violet eyes were focused on something above them in worried suspicion. "There's something up there."

The group looked up as well, to see Demi had spoken the truth. A figure was receding into the shadows of the tree branches, and in a single instant, the figure leapt from his spot on a branch to land on the ground with a spirited jeté that made the five take a step back.

It was a curly-blue-haired, sky-eyed Spaniard with two blue wings like a Blue Jay's branching out from his back.

At first he merely peered at Fakir, Mytho, Rue, Helios and Demi in interest. Then, stepping back in ballet steps that made the metal bottoms of his tap shoes make spicy rhythms on the hard ground, the strange young man circled his two hands above his head before holding out a hand in a gesture to them.

"He wants us to _dance_…?" Helios murmured in confusion and wonder.

The Spaniard danced steps only natural to a talented danseur, yet the attitude and aura of his movements was that of a flamenco dancer. His twirls and jumps held a kind of playful slyness that could almost invite one to try and learn his intentions…but they also seemed inquisitive and curious.

At last accepting that the form of communication between them and the stranger was ballet, Demi arched her arms above her head and stepped forward to meet the Spaniard in his dance. She held her hands out to him questioningly as she arched her leg back in a classic, ballerina ronde du jambe that almost clashed with the Spaniard's vivacious, flamenco-styled ballet. Helios looked visibly worried at letting his princess so close to a stranger that might be an enemy, but seemed to trust that Demi knew what she was doing.

"_Who are you?"_ Demi's movements asked the stranger.

"_Who are you?"_ the Spaniard returned the question with his dance. _"Why are you here? How did you get here?"_

"_We're looking for someone,"_ Demi gestured back, a hand to her heart.

"_Who would that be?"_ the Spaniard's movements inquired lightly.

It seemed the blue-haired man was only in the mood for asking questions; Demi couldn't seem to get a straight answer from him…and that alone gave her enough reason to withhold a full explanation.

Finally the end of their dance came with their questions slowing down to a standstill. The Blue-Jay-winged Spaniard and the puppet-turned-human still had their arms held out to each other in a questioning manner, the stranger's feet resting in fifth position and Demi en pointe with her leg arched in back of her.

* * *

Li's eyes narrowed at the intruder beside Carmen. _'What the hell does he think he's doing? Running off to investigate the noise, and instead flirting with a pretty girl!'_

Hatred toward the brown-haired girl flashed through the knight-in-training's heart, before it became enough to make him step in.

He leapt from the branch he'd been resting on so that he landed between Carmen and the violet-eyed girl. He held his arms out as if to shield Carmen, glaring at the female stranger and pirouetting with his leg kicking toward her in an almost threatening way.

Carmen took flight and returned to the shadows, obviously wanting to get out of his friend's way. The chocolate-haired girl moved back in slight fear, and a young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes that looked like a prince immediately stepped in front of her, raising one of his arms above his head and the other toward Li in an attempt of assurance.

"_We are not your enemy,"_ the prince's movements assured him.

Li, however, would have none of it, and gestured back, _"I don't believe you!"_

The two males danced with conflicting messages toward each other. While the hazel-eyed prince tried being reassuring and civil, Li could only see him and his girl companion as being harmful to Carmen and the others.

Their dance ended with the prince bending on one knee in a respectful bow; Li, however, had his arm outstretched in the prince's direction so that his left hand was positioned next to the prince's neck like an axe aimed at the neck of one condemned to death.

* * *

Helios eyed the Chinese-dressed stranger's hand placed at the side of his neck, almost unintentionally looking nervous. Both Demi and Fakir looked about to intervene, but before they could, Rue uttered a troubled whisper of

"Up there!"

Another figure was hiding in the shadows of the trees, and although he hadn't moved to prevent the conflict between Helios and the Chinese dancer, it still seemed as though the figure was reproaching the exchange with his silence.

Upon the realization the figure was there, the steel-haired Asian spread his hawk-like wings and quite abruptly retreated back into the trees.

The hiding figure spread his own set of wings and descended to the ground but remained careful to stay in the shadows so it was hard to make out who he was.

Fighting down her fear and ignoring Mytho reaching out a hand as if to pull her back, Rue stepped forward to meet the secretive stranger. The once-raven princess moved gracefully en pointe over him, one of her arms arched above her head and the other held up at her side, as she hesitantly tried to probe the dark stranger's character.

"_Who are you?"_ her black-swan-like dance asked. _"Who are those friends of yours? We won't hurt you if we don't have to."_

The stranger in the dark lifted his leg up en dehors, bringing his feet into third position, before flourishing his hand toward Rue in an almost warning manner and pirouetting so that he was even further away from her.

"_You don't belong here,"_ the mysterious man's gestures answered her. _"Leave at once…this place is dangerous for people like you."_

* * *

Ahiru slowly opened her eyes, and blinked once…twice…three times, to find she was on the ground, with a blur by her side that, as her vision cleared, slowly began to solidify into Baltazar.

At first Ahiru just stared at him. Then, after a moment, she cried out in relieved excitement, jumped up and gave her grandfather a hug. "_Jii-chan_!"

The old king Baltazar returned Ahiru's embrace, smiling fondly.

"Little granddaughter," he murmured reassuringly, "I'm very relieved that you responded to our memories. You really worried me."

Ahiru pulled away. "But…how did you _find_ me?"

"By a fluke of Vulture's," Baltazar answered with a wry smile. "Of all the birds he could have transformed Prometheus into, it had to be an _eagle_…and eagles have power over the bridging of worlds."

"Prometheus-san can bridge worlds?" Ahiru recurred in surprise. "Then why haven't you all escaped and gotten help?"

"It seems Prometheus can only do it when he's an eagle," Baltazar explicated, "and even then it's hard for him to control where the portals go. Musouka Lake is the easiest for him, I'd guess; since the magic around it is the same as the magic on us, it probably _attracts_ him. It was a stroke of luck he found you…but I suppose it had to be you; after all, no _regular_ duck cries when it is unhappy."

At the mention of her crying, Ahiru unintentionally remembered another time where she had cried as a duck.

* * *

"_**You again," Fakir murmured with a miserable smile, his face wet with tears as he looked down at Ahiru. "You're seeing me in a pretty disgraceful state here."**_

_**Ahiru's eyes were also filled with tears, her heart aching sympathetically for the young man she had seen as heartless and cruel. "Quack…"**_

"_**Are you…crying for me?" Fakir whispered.**_

_**Without another word, the green-haired knight got down on his knees, picked the little duck up and held her close in a gentle embrace.**_

_**The movement surprised Ahiru, but the warmth of Fakir's arms soothed her in a way she couldn't quite explain, and she leaned her head on his chest. Fakir's free hand stroked the little duck's head, grateful for her sympathy.**_

* * *

'_Fakir…'_

Abruptly Ahiru's head shot around at the sound of a pounding on a drum and a familiar voice chanting a repetitive, singsong phrase.

"Love-love-love-love-"

"_Uzura-chan_!" Ahiru cried.

The little girl known as Uzura appeared almost from nowhere, and when she saw Ahiru, she gave an innocent "_ohhh_" and skipped over to her. "Ahiru-zura!"

"What on _earth_…how did she-?" Baltazar whispered, obviously wondering how a little girl like Uzura could've found Musouka Lake.

"What are you doing here, Uzura-chan?" Ahiru asked her, before her mind prompted another question, "Where have you _been_ all this time?"

"Ahiru, are you really a princess-zura?" Uzura chirped curiously.

"You know about that?" said Ahiru, before deciding to disregard it and answer the little girl's question. "Yes, I am."

"Then who's your _prince_-zura?" Uzura inquired. "Rue is a princess, and she has a lovey-dovey-zura…where's _your_ lovey-dovey-zura?"

"Um…" Ahiru wasn't sure how to answer that. "I don't have one yet, Uzura-chan…but don't worry about it! I have Helios-kun, Demi-chan, Fa-"

At the mention of Fakir, she again remembered what she had recalled when she'd thought of Fakir hugging her as a duck, and she jumped to her feet.

"_Fakir_! I've got to get back to Kinkan Town and tell him the truth!"

"Odette, you _can't_ go back to the outside world!" reproached Baltazar. "You almost forgot _everything_ going through the forest before. Resisting fate is _futile_."

Ahiru looked at her grandfather, her glance full of conflict. "But I _have_ to get back! Fakir probably thinks Prometheus-san _ate_ me or something!"

Her water-like eyes widened in realization. "Of _course_…_Prometheus-san_! He can make portals…he can get me back!"

Without another thought, the princess ran off to search the lake for Prometheus, completely disregarding Baltazar's cries at her to come back.

Uzura watched Ahiru leave in confusion, before she took off after Ahiru, still beating her drum to its fervent beat.

* * *

Rue held out a hand in the stranger's direction in a demanding sort of manner, trying to force all fear from her face. _"Show yourself!"_

The stranger took a step forward so that Rue could just barely make out his face: his tanned skin told her he was an Arab, his black hair was long and flecked with dark brown and his eyes shone just as black as the dark night sky above them.

Rue almost unintentionally took a step back, but then stepped back to where she'd first been as if to erase her flicker of apprehension.

"_You've seen me,"_ the Arabian's movements said. _"Now let me see you better."_

Rue's eyes narrowed slightly, but nonetheless stepped delicately over to him in a slightly reproachful way. Her friends behind her, Mytho especially, looked like they were holding their breath, anxious for her safety.

The Arabian's dance was quite cold toward Rue, and his ebony eyes flickered with distrust_. "Intruders shouldn't be so demanding. Whether you are here to harm us or not, you and your friends should leave."_

"_We won't leave until we find who we're looking for," _Rue gestured back firmly.

"_Then you are a fool,"_ the Arabian's movements answered, before he stopped for a moment, his feet moving into third position. _"If you don't leave now, you will regret it. This place brings nothing but misfortune."_

And with that, the Arabian finally stepped fully out of the shadows and spread his own wings: an elegant set of pitch-black.

Rue and Mytho's eyes widened in horrified unison. _'Black wings…a raven!'_

* * *

Krishna looked at the black-haired young woman dully…and did a horrified double take when he made eye contact with her.

'_Red eyes,' _he thought in alarm,_ 'like a raven's!'_

In the single instant that he'd seen the woman's eyes and he'd spread his wings, a white-haired, amber-eyed, royal-garbed man that had been in the background had jumped in front of the young woman, his swan-icon sword unsheathed.

"Get away from her!" he cried, his amber eyes flashing as he raised his sword…

_CLANG_!

In another lightning-fast movement, a brown blur moved in front of Krishna and blocked the white-haired prince's sword with one of his own.

'_Prometheus!'_ Krishna realized in both shock and relief.

Prometheus pushed the white-haired prince back, his eyes filled with equal fury.

"Get away from _him_!"

He swung his sword at the prince, who pirouetted backward to avoid the blow.

* * *

"_Mytho_!"

Fakir rushed forward to help Mytho, but the hawk-winged man jumped in front of him, pointing his own sword's blade at his throat.

"Any of you try to interfere, you face _me_!" he barked, as Carmen flew back down from the trees to stand beside him.

The writer was forced to stand on the sidelines irately, but still helplessly, as the eagle-winged man and Mytho fought each other, both trying to protect their respective black-haired companions.

_'Mytho…'_

* * *

Ahiru ran along the edge of the lake, searching desperately for some trace of Prometheus or her other friends.

'_Oh…where are you guys? Prometheus-san…I have to get back and find Fakir!'_

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, and when she did, a cheerful beating on a drum again became evident as Uzura trotted up beside her.

"Ahiru, are you all right-zura?"

Ahiru panted lightly. "Yeah…it's just…I really need to get back to Kinkan Town and find Fakir…I need to tell him…"

"You need to tell Fakir something-zura?" Uzura recurred, before catching sight of movement through the trees a little way away. "Oh…are they _dancing_-zura?"

"_Dancing_?" Ahiru repeated, turning her head to look as well.

Her eyes widened as she saw Prometheus jumping gracefully around as he swung his sword in the direction of a white-haired young man…a white-haired man who Ahiru had met twice: once as Mytho, and once as…

"_Ni-chan_," she breathed, before reacting in horror and running over.

* * *

_CLANG_!

Mytho blocked the eagle-winged man's attack, his amber eyes narrowed to slits. The Russian-dressed danseur quite obviously had taken classes in battle judging by his excellent form.

'_Even so,'_ the white-haired prince thought determinedly, _'I'll die a hundred times over before I let a raven or anyone else hurt Rue!'_

Crying out in righteous fury, Mytho raised his sword, pouring energy into the blade so it shone with gold magic, and thrust it at Prometheus.

"_STOP_!" a familiar, innocent voice yelled.

A pale yellow blur moved between Mytho and Prometheus. Mytho froze in his movement, the magic fading from his sword, and Prometheus also stopped abruptly in shock. Fakir, however, was the most shocked of all. 

The voice had belonged to a girl who had jumped between the two warriors: a girl with long red hair tied up in a bun, innocent blue eyes and two yellow wings sprouting from her back and dressed in a pale yellow gown only fit of royalty.

"_Ahiru_!" Fakir shouted.

Ahiru whirled around, and her eyes widened. "_Fakir_!"

Without another thought or word, the writer had run past Carmen and Li up to the girl who had been the duck who had been the girl he had fallen in love with, and he grabbed her into a tight embrace.

"_Ahiru_…" he murmured, his eyes closing in relief.

"_Fakir_!" Ahiru was crying, her grip tight on Fakir's shirt. "Fakir…you're _here_!"

"Baka," Fakir whispered with a wry smile, stroking her hair soothingly. "Of course I'm here…I wouldn't leave you…"

"_Ahiru-san_?" Helios recurred in surprise, for he'd never seen her as a human.

Ahiru pulled away from Fakir. "_Helios-kun_! _Demi-chan_, _Rue-chan_! You're all here!"

Demi also gave Ahiru a hug. "Ahiru-chan, we were so _worried_! Are you okay?"

Prometheus and the other bird-winged men looked very confused from the side.

"Hime, who are these people?" Li inquired, dumbfounded.

Ahiru turned to her childhood comrades. "It's all right, you guys…they're friends of mine. This is Fakir, Demi-chan, Helios-kun, Rue-chan and…"

She paused, as her eyes lay on Mytho, almost unsure of what to call him now that her memory had returned. Fortunately Prometheus's eyes had widened and he spoke before she looked too awkward.

"_Siegfried-kun_…?" the eagle-winged man breathed in disbelief.

Mytho froze. He stared at the Russian, before whispering in shock, "_Prometheus_?"

The two friends stared at each other for a long moment, before they moved in unison to wrap their arms around each other in a friendly hug.

"Siegfried-kun, I can't believe it," Prometheus babbled, "you're _alive_!"

"What do you mean, _'I'm alive?'_" Mytho said, equally shocked. "_You're_ alive! And if _you're_ alive, then…"

He looked at the others, his eyes growing even wider. "Carmen? Krishna? Li?"

The three nodded, smiling in a kind of stunned relief.

Mytho's thoughts were moving so fast, he looked as though he couldn't speak. Finally he turned very, very slowly around to stare at Ahiru.

Ahiru smiled sadly. "Hello, ni-chan."

Mytho's sword clattered to the ground as his grip on it slacked, and the next thing Ahiru knew, Mytho was holding her close and sobbing into her shoulder.

"_Odette_…_little sister_…I…I can't _believe_ it! I thought…but I never thought…why didn't I _recognize_…?"

Ahiru hugged him back reassuringly. "It's all right, ni-chan…when you got all your heart back and remembered who you were, all you saw of me was a _duck_…you couldn't have recognized me. I didn't remember anything either."

Rue stared. "So…so _Ahiru_ is…?"

"The lost princess of Cygnus and Mytho's sister, Odette," Fakir finished for her. "Vulture captured her and these others after destroying Mytho's kingdom because the raven pecking away at Vulture's heart realized it would need new hearts to feed on after Vulture's died…kind, yet weak hearts."

Ahiru stared at Fakir. "Fakir…how do you know that?"

Fakir looked down, his eyes going into shadow, wondering what to say; then he swallowed and answered,

"Ahiru…I know because…I started your story again."

Ahiru gasped. "Fakir, how…how _could_ you? Madame Ruza said writing with just your own power was _dangerous_…why would you…?"

"Because…" Fakir muttered without looking up, "because you gave us _everything_, Ahiru. You gave Mytho his _heart_…you gave Rue her _prince_…you gave Helios and Demi their _humanity_…you gave Nezumi _comfort_…"

"Fakir-" Ahiru started, but she stopped when the writer grabbed her shoulders.

"You gave me my _life_, Ahiru!" he yelled, his eyes flashing both in anger and sadness as he tried to make her understand. "And you got _nothing_! You gave up your human form…your school friends…your dancing…_everything_!"

Ahiru quaked slightly at the intensity in Fakir's eyes, before the writer bowed his head once more, not releasing her shoulders.

"I just…" he whispered, "wanted to give you something back…"

The red-haired princess stared at him for a moment, before realizing in amazed concern, "Fakir…Fakir, you're _shaking_…"

Fakir looked up at her, his emerald eyes overflowing with emotion. "Ahiru…"

Ahiru couldn't help but fall into such eyes. It was so rare to see such passion from Fakir unless he was protecting Mytho; certainly had the writer never told her such things. It was the closest Ahiru had seen Fakir to crying as a girl.

_'Fakir…'_

Suddenly a loud shriek rang through Ahiru's ears at an earsplitting volume as Ahiru felt herself being thrust backward by a vicious force into a tree.

"_Chibi hime_!"

Carmen rushed to her side. Ahiru looked at him, and then toward the source of the push: a man with ragged dirty-blond hair, red eyes and vulture wings who had flown right into her and Fakir and had snatched the young writer's shirt in one of his clawed hands as he flew away.

It was the wizard Vulture.

"_Fakir_!" Ahiru screamed.

Fakir struggled to fight Vulture off, but he didn't have Lohengrin's sword with him, and his fists alone seemed to have no effect at all.

"_Fakir, hold on_!" yelled Mytho.

He pirouetted rapidly to call forth his magical pink flowers, and flew after Vulture. Shouting a battle cry, the prince raised his sword and prepared to launch it at the wizard…

But his sword hit a magical dark red barrier around Vulture and Fakir, the force of the recoil enough to thrust Mytho off of his pink flowers hard into the ground.

"_Ouji_!" Rue cried, rushing over to him.

"_Mytho_!" shouted Fakir, increasing his struggle to escape, but to no avail.

Ahiru ran after them desperately, struggling to flap her wings enough to get her airborne. Sadly, even when she was a duck, she couldn't fly very well. She fell back to the earth, her face and hands getting scratched, and was forced to watch Vulture carry her writer friend off to his castle that towered over Musouka Lake.

"_Fakir_…" she whispered, her blue eyes hollow.

Tears stung her eyes, before all of her feelings of terror, grief and hopelessness mounted on her at once and she cried out into the night,

"_FAKIR_!"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Translation Notes:**

**Musouka – "dreamer" in Japanese **

**Jii-chan – loving Japanese form of "Grandpa"; generally translated in English as "Gramps"**

**Music Notes:**

"**_Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy"_: starts as Fakir et al. enter Musouka Lake for the first time. Fakir starts his first chain of thoughts at 0:17, Helios speaks at 0:25, Fakir starts to wonder if there is a wandering soul on Musouka Lake at 0:33 and the music ends at 0:42.**

"**_Spanish Dance"_: Carmen's entrance/dance with Demi. Music starts when Demi first notices Carmen, with Carmen jumping down at 0:14 and gesturing to the group at 0:21. Demi enters the dance at 0:38 and they dance until the music ends. **

"**_Chinese Dance"_: Li's entrance/dance with Helios. Music starts as the Spanish Dance ends, with Li jumping down at 0:03. Helios steps in front of Demi at 0:11, and the two dance until they stop with Helios bowing and Li's hand pointing threateningly at Helios's neck.**

"**_Arabian Dance"_: Krishna's entrance/dance with Rue. Music starts as the Chinese Dance ends, with Rue noticing Krishna at 0:08. Li notices at 0:15, retreating at 0:19. Krishna enters at 0:24, and Rue steps forward at 0:39. Music pauses at 1:00 for the scene with Ahiru, Baltazar and Uzura, and then moves to 2:09 when Krishna steps out of the darkness. At 2:38 the music moves to the music at 3:00, and the music fades out as Krishna realizes Rue's eyes are red. **

"**_Russian Dance"_: The battle between Prometheus and Mytho. Music starts as the Arabian Dance ends, with Mytho jumping in front of Rue when the music starts, and Prometheus jumping in front of Krishna at 0:06. They take their swings at each other at each short blast of music, and Fakir moving to help Mytho at 0:25. Scene shifts to Ahiru and Uzura at 0:46, they hear the commotion at 0:50 and Ahiru jumps between Prometheus and Mytho at 1:05. **

"**_Wizards in Winter"_: starts when Ahiru is shoved away from Fakir by Vulture at 0:18. Mytho hits the barrier at 0:25 and hits the ground at 0:26; Ahiru flies a little off the ground at 0:28, but falls at 0:29. Music ends at 0:36 with Vulture carrying Fakir off.**

**The piece _"Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy,"_ and the pieces that make up _"Divertissement,"_ (_"Spanish Dance,"__"Chinese Dance,"_ _"Arabian Dance,"_ and _"Russian Dance"_) are all by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet _"The Nutcracker."_**

**The piece _"Wizards in Winter"_ is by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.**


	15. Act 40: Beauty and the Beast

_**Once upon a time there was a cursed prince. His curse ordained that he would remain a beast until he could marry one who could love him as he was. The beast despaired, until a lovely lady agreed to stay with him in exchange for the freedom of her father, who the beast had imprisoned. Eventually the beast fell in love with the lady, but no matter how much attention and finery he gave her, the beast had no chance of earning her affection…for you see, the lady already loved another man.**_

* * *

**Act 40: Beauty and the Beast**

**(((Execution)))**

"And with that single movement, the princess has lost her knight!" laughed Drosslemeyer as his gaze wandered between gear images of Fakir being carried off by Vulture and the crying Ahiru. "Oh, what on earth shall you do _now_, Princess Odette? Sacrifice your own life trying to save him, or accept that his fate is to be _worse_ than dead? Either way the knight is _useless_…though perhaps in a raven's hands, he may actually _become_ useful…useful in creating a wonderful _tragedy_, of course!"

* * *

No matter what she tried, Ahiru just couldn't tear her tear-filled eyes away from the wretched castle to which Vulture had flown Fakir away.

'_It's all my fault…'_

She bowed her head in grief and shame as she thought this.

'_It's all my fault…if Fakir hadn't been trying to __rescue__ me, Vulture wouldn't have __taken__ him… What horrible things could Vulture __do__ to him? What if he curses __Fakir__ too?' _

Mytho struggled to get to his feet, and with Rue's help, he moved over to her side and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Odette," he whispered. "I swear to you…I'll rescue Fakir."

"No," Ahiru dissented quietly.

Seeing her brother's surprise, she looked at him with resolve through her tears.

"_You_ won't do it; _we'll_ do it. It's my fault Fakir got captured…"

"Don't blame yourself for a raven's hunger," chided a voice behind the group.

It was Baltazar.

"_Jii-sama_!" Mytho breathed.

Baltazar smiled as he sat by Ahiru as well. "I am glad you're alive, Siegfried."

"What do you mean, _'a raven's hunger?'_" asked Mytho.

"It is as young Fakir said," Baltazar answered calmly. "The raven captured Odette and the others because he wanted kind, yet weak hearts to feed on after Vulture's died. What better to feed off of than kind, weak hearts that belong to young people of noble birth? Young hearts are easier to _manipulate_, and what power a raven would have if it took over the heart of an advisor's son…" he eyed Krishna, "…a lord's heir…" he looked to Prometheus, "or even…a _princess_."

Carmen's eyes and voice filled with terror as he asked, "Are you saying the raven in Vulture's heart was going to possess chibi hime next?"

"I am almost certain of it," Baltazar assented.

"Why did you say nothing of it?" Prometheus demanded.

"Fate is a set of scales that must be accepted in its _entirety_: the side of joy _and_ the side of grief," the old king responded, his yellow eyes slightly critical. "Struggling against it brings _glory_; accepting it brings _happiness_."

Demi and Helios looked horrified. Li stiffened sharply, his eyes flashing.

"That's _cowardly_!" he snapped. "Do you not _care_ whether hime lives or dies?"

"That is the voice of a knight who thirsts for glory," Baltazar murmured. "Of _course_ I do…but I acknowledge Odette will die one day, as will we all. Tutu died unhappily…and many of us will as well. That is the will of fate…and our endings shall prompt new beginnings, both happy and unhappy."

Ahiru's friends seemed to dislike the elder's theology, but Mytho and Ahiru, likely because they were related to Baltazar, didn't dwell on it.

"But…" whispered Ahiru, "if Vulture's raven wanted my heart…why did he take _Fakir_?"

"Probably to lure you to the castle," Helios supposed darkly, his hazel eyes narrowing, "so it would be that much easier for the raven to take your heart."

"Perhaps," Baltazar said quietly, sounding thoughtful, before looking to Mytho. "Siegfried…who is this Fakir to you?"

Mytho blinked. "Well…he rescued me when I broke apart my heart, calling me _'Mytho'_ as I didn't know who I was. He's the reincarnation of Dou-sama."

"Prince Lohengrin's _reincarnation_?" recurred Li, sounding amazed.

Ahiru nodded. "But Fakir couldn't protect ni-chan with his sword and not die, so he put it down…he's a writer."

"A story spinner?" Baltazar inquired, sounding interested.

"I've heard of them," Carmen recalled vaguely. "My papa used to tell me stories about them…I never knew they were _real_."

"They were," Ahiru assented. "Fakir's probably the only one left, though."

Prometheus's face scrunched up in thought. "But I don't _understand_, what would a raven want with a _writer_?"

"Everything," Rue replied abruptly.

They turned to the once raven princess, to see her scarlet eyes were full of fear.

"The power to turn stories into reality," she murmured. "What kind of horrible things could a raven do with _that_? If a raven held that sort of power…it could rewrite _anything_! It could make the world a raven-ruled _hell_…for all we know…it could even bring back the Monster Raven!"

The others all reacted in horror; Mytho went as white as a sheet.

"We _can't_ let that happen!" Prometheus proclaimed determinedly, pulling his sword from its sheath. "The ravens destroyed Cygnus…Vulture killed my mother…I say we storm the castle and kill both Vulture _and_ the raven in him!"

'_Kill__ him?'_ Ahiru repeated inwardly, her heart aching as she remembered the kind man Vulture had been when she'd danced with him at the Cygnus ball. _'There's good in Vulture…just like there was in Rue-chan and Nezumi-san…'_

"He's possessed by a _raven_," Ahiru argued out loud. "If we could just convince him to fight _against_ it-"

Baltazar shook his head. "It's too late for that, Odette. While it is true that if the raven possessed Vulture at least semi-recently we could reach him, it has been _years_. Vulture's heart likely is almost entirely _consumed_ by now. There are only three possible outcomes for this story now. Either the raven will abandon Vulture's body and let it die, destroying Vulture's soul along with it…Vulture's heart will fight against the raven's control and die naturally…or we must kill both Vulture and the raven with one blow."

"But if Vulture's heart fought," said Demi, "would his soul be set free?"

"Yes, but I don't think _anyone_ could persuade Vulture to fight now," murmured Baltazar. "There's only one person I know that Vulture cared about enough…"

His gaze moved to Ahiru and Mytho. "…And that was Tutu."

"_Princess Tutu_?" repeated Rue, taken aback.

"_Kaa-san_?" Mytho recurred, sounding just as surprised as Rue.

"Yes," assented Baltazar, his yellow eyes growing a grim glint behind his glasses. "Siegfried, Odette…do you remember when Vulture mentioned that he almost killed Lohengrin?"

* * *

"_**Geier!" realized Lohengrin, his voice a carrying whisper.**_

_**Geier laughed darkly. "I'm glad you remember me, Lohengrin…you should, after almost dying at my hands…"**_

* * *

"Vulture…or, as he was known when he was younger, Geier," Baltazar added, "was cursed, just like Tutu. But instead of vanishing when uttering love, Geier's fate was to live as an outcast. Determined to prevent that fate, his parents decided to vigorously train their son in magic so he could stop it from happening. Sadly that didn't happen…when Geier was very little and learning how to make a potion to turn humans into birds, he accidentally spilled his amateur potion on himself…after hours and hours of intense pain, Geier ended up with two vulture wings sprouting out of his spine."

Krishna's black eyes widened. "So _that's_ where he got those wings."

Baltazar nodded. "After that, his parents wanted nothing more to do with the boy…and neither did anyone else. Two of the things vultures symbolize are _death_ and _scavenging_; what normal parents would want their children around _that_? Geier was a lonely child, friendless and alone…until he met Tutu."

"Kaa-san was different?" Mytho asked.

"Yes," Baltazar responded. "Tutu gave understanding to _everyone_…she probably was the only friend Geier ever had. When they met as children, Geier was filthy, his clothes were torn, he had mud and grass in his hair…but Tutu took Geier under her wing, and the two became best of friends."

At the word _"friends,"_ Ahiru almost involuntarily remembered something Geier had said to her at the Cygnus ball so long ago.

* * *

"_**You remind me so of my dearest friend. Your kindness and innocence…do not let them fade, young one."**_

* * *

'_Dearest friend…he meant Kaa-chan,'_ Ahiru realized.

"Tutu asked me to teach Geier magic," Baltazar continued seriously, "knowing what he wanted more than anything was to remove his wings and live as a normal human, and so I found him a teacher. Geier, even at that age, was brilliant."

"A _madman_, more like," Prometheus growled vehemently.

"No," Baltazar dissented calmly, "but I will admit, he was weak _emotionally_. Tutu was his _world_…after all, even after she took him in, she was his only _friend_…and as the two grew older, it became very clear he grew _fonder_ of her."

"Are you saying that Vulture was in _love_ with Princess Tutu?" Demi inquired.

"I see no other motivation Geier could've had to try to kill Lohengrin," answered Baltazar. "Lohengrin was a good man…though hot-tempered and prone to use _words_ instead of _actions_, I have never known a young man who deserved happiness more than him. Lohengrin and Tutu became friends after Tutu fell off a bridge in town and twisted her ankle, and Lohengrin carried her back up to the palace. Geier was furious Lohengrin had allowed her to get hurt at all…but Tutu took a liking to the young knight, and, as you know, fell in love with him."

"And that's why Vulture tried to kill Lohengrin-sama?" guessed Li.

"Correct. Geier had challenged Lohengrin to a duel for Tutu's affections and, of course, Lohengrin accepted the challenge. But Geier used his _magic_ as well as a _sword_, so even if Lohengrin had seen battle _before_ he faced Geier, he stood no chance against him. Geier was ready to kill Lohengrin…but Tutu intervened. Geier couldn't hurt Tutu…so he dropped his sword. Even though he stopped and Tutu _pleaded_ with me not to, I had no choice but to punish him for attempted murder…and so, Geier was banished."

Baltazar closed his eyes. "I can assume that Geier wandered for quite a few years after that, at some point encountering the raven that possessed him, killed quite a few people, like Lady Dachou," he nodded to Prometheus, "before sneaking the ravens into Cygnus to get his revenge on Lohengrin."

"So everything that he did," whispered Rue, "was because of his love for Tutu?"

'_That's just like me with ouji,'_ she thought to herself, feeling horrible. _'Doing such terrible things to him, Fakir and Ahiru just trying to get him for myself…'_

Mytho could almost predict what Rue was thinking, and placed a hand on her shoulder to assure her otherwise.

"Vulture's intentions are not for Princess Tutu any longer," Helios reminded the group, "for his purpose is that of the raven controlling him…and that purpose is solely to eat a new, powerful heart and leave Vulture's body to rot."

Demi nodded austerely. "Yes…and that powerful heart right now will be Fakir-sama's if we don't get to Vulture's castle and rescue him."

Ahiru, Mytho, Rue, Prometheus, Li, Krishna and Carmen all nodded in agreement. Baltazar, however, opened his yellow eyes in an oddly grave way.

"Then I suppose this is the end."

His grandchildren and their friends looked at the old king in surprised unison.

"What do you mean, jii-chan?" Ahiru inquired.

Baltazar sighed. "I mean, Odette…that my fate has finally come."

"Your _fate_?" repeated Mytho. "Jii-sama, you're not making any sense."

"How do I clear this up?" Baltazar murmured, half to himself and half to them, before explicating, "For the last five centuries, the first born child of every royal family member in Cygnus has been dealt a specific fate. Siegfried was fated to love all and be loved by all…Tutu was fated to vanish in a flash of light…and I was fated to die when everyone around me decided to defy fate."

Mytho, Prometheus and Ahiru's eyes widened in horror.

"Baltazar-san," Prometheus choked, "y-you _can't_ believe that you are going to-"

"You _know_ I don't fight fate, Prometheus," Baltazar cut him off, "but…I've decided I _won't_ die by Vulture's hands…if I _must_ die, I will die with a _purpose_."

Li's face was filling with impatient sadness. "Fighting against Vulture to help save the world is without _purpose_? Then are you saying we should just _give up_?"

"I'm saying that I would be of no _help_ to you," replied Baltazar. "Although I have magic, Vulture cursed me so he would have the chance to catch up with me, so my offensive magic will either be less than or equal to his now."

"You fighting with us against Vulture will make the difference, not whether or not you _win_!" Mytho dissented, sounding very upset.

Baltazar shook his head. "I will not fight…I will not die uselessly like Lohengrin had to. No…I will die giving you what you need to _succeed_."

He turned to Ahiru. "Odette…do you remember when I said that Tutu was the only one who could reach out to Vulture? And do you remember, from my memory, that you inherited Tutu's role and character when she died?"

Ahiru nodded, deciding to ignore Mytho and Rue's confusedly surprised looks.

"Good," Baltazar smiled sadly. "Then this will be a lot easier."

He peered at Mytho over his glasses. "From what you said, Siegfried, I gather you broke apart your heart and then got it back?"

Mytho nodded. "Yes…Odette turned into Princess Tutu during _the Prince and the Raven_ and brought my heart shards back to me."

"So Odette has become Princess Tutu _before_?" Baltazar murmured. "I see, Odette must've used the heart shard of your memories to transform…I suppose the memory of your mother in that heart shard would've responded to the part of Tutu in Odette and brought it to life."

Mytho's amber eyes widened in realization, before they narrowed grimly. "Then…I'll have to break apart my heart again."

"_No_!" Ahiru and Rue shouted in loud unison.

"No, Siegfried," Baltazar agreed with the two young women. "If you break apart your heart, we would have to search for all of the shards again before you would be of any use. We won't use your heart…we'll use _mine_."

"_Jii-chan_!" Ahiru cried in horror.

Mytho also looked alarmed. "Jii-sama, you _can't_! Me breaking apart my own heart is one thing…I'm young, my body can deal with that _stress_-"

"And so I will lay down my life giving Odette and you what you need to fight Vulture," Baltazar finished for him. "Give me a necklace or bracelet Odette can wear…and I will seal my memory of Tutu within it."

Ahiru opened her mouth to protest again, but Mytho placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. With a pain-filled look in his amber eyes, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar gold locket with a gold chain and the image of a swan engraved on it that Ahiru hadn't seen since the chaos at Cygnus.

"_Kaa-chan's locket_," breathed Ahiru in disbelief.

Mytho forced a smile, but it looked like he was choking back tears, and then he faintly placed the gold locket into Baltazar's awaiting hand.

As he tightened his fist around the locket, the old king stood, spread his snowy owl wings and extended his arms in a single swift movement, before his body began to glow with bright white magic. The magic moved through his body over to his arm and then into the locket of his daughter, until all the light left the elder's body and he collapsed.

"Jii-chan!" Ahiru cried, catching his body as it fell. "Jii-chan…_jii-chan_!"

But it was no use calling him. The old king was dead, and the small gold locket in his open hand glittered with white magic.

Mytho looked down to hide his eyes as silent tears ran down his face, and Rue wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to comfort him. The bird-winged males and Helios bowed their heads in mournful respect, and Demi put her hand to her mouth as she tried not to cry for Ahiru's loss.

Ahiru took the white-shining locket from her grandfather's hand, clenching it in her fist, and hugged Baltazar's limp form as tears came to her eyes.

'_Jii-chan…don't die…'_

Her sobs created a sort of strangling in her throat that made it difficult to stop crying. Perhaps it was because she lost her grandpa after just finding him again, but the pressure on her heart felt twice as hard as it would've been otherwise.

"_Odette,"_ a maternal sort of voice within her spoke gently. _"There now…don't cry."_

Ahiru choked, trying to bite back her sobs. _'W-who…?'_

The mental presence the voice belonged to seemed to smile. _"You don't recognize me after all the times we worked together to get Siegfried's heart shards? Even if we've never spoken together like this, I would've thought you'd recognize my presence."_

Ahiru blinked, looking down at the locket in surprise. _'__Kaa-chan__?'_

"_Our connection has been reestablished thanks to your grandfather,"_ Tutu's voice stated in both sadness and determination. _"So don't cry for him…he's given you me, and I promise you, I will reunite you with Fakir."_

'_Thank you…'_

Ahiru forced herself to stand, breathing hard as Baltazar's body slowly vanished in magical white light, and then reached behind her neck to fasten her locket.

In an instant, the locket glowed in white magic, and Ahiru rolled into a fetal position as a golden egg formed around her amongst yellow duck feathers. The gold egg sparkled until it became as see-through as a bubble, and Ahiru burst through it, fully adorned in the white leotard, pink-embellished white tutu, short white-feather-trimmed haircut and tiny gold crown she'd wore originally as Princess Tutu. Where the pendant of extended wings she'd worn before had been, however, now lay her mother's gold locket, and instead of the yellow duck wings Ahiru had received under the Curse of Wings, white swan wings branched out from her back.

Tutu looked at each of her friends and Mytho in turn, her feet resting in third position seriously.

"Let's go."

* * *

A dark figure looked into a looking glass, to find an image of Princess Tutu, Mytho, Rue, Helios, Demi and the cursed males within it.

"So they think they can kill me," a male voice whispered in a very cold tone, as the face of the figure crinkled in a smirk. "Well, we'll see…I'd love to see if they could even _touch_ me."

Fakir came into the light, his emerald green eyes shining a bright red as he turned away from the mirror and walked out of the room.

* * *

"Oh ho, and so Princess Odette summons up her mother's power to rescue the knight from the raven in Vulture's heart," proclaimed Drosslemeyer. "But…is it already too _late_? Heh, heh, heh…"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"_**Beauty of the Beast"**_**: starts when Baltazar asks if Ahiru and Mytho remember when Vulture mentioned he tried to kill Lohengrin, moves into the powerful movement at 0:13 for Baltazar's story, and ends at 0:43, before Krishna speaks. **

"_**Execution"**_**: starts at Ahiru and Rue disagreeing with Mytho wanting to break apart his heart again, with Baltazar first speaking at 0:04. Mytho takes Tutu's necklace out of his pocket at 0:33, forces a smile at 0:40 and hands the locket to Baltazar before 0:48. Baltazar's magic flows into the locket until the music ends at 1:12 as Baltazar starts to fall. **

**"_Savages Pt. 2"_: starts as soon as _"Execution"_ ends, with Ahiru catching Baltazar's body mid-fall. Ahiru takes the locket from Baltazar at 0:17, and Tutu's voice first comforts Ahiru at 0:25. Ahiru asks who the voice is at 0:33 and realizes "Kaa-san?" at 0:42. Ahiru transforms into Princess Tutu at 0:55 and looks around at everyone before saying, "Let's go" at 1:05. The music ends 1:09. **

**The piece _"Beauty of the Beast"_ is by Nightwish.**

**The pieces **_**"Execution"**_** and **_**"Savages Pt. 2"**_** are from the **_**"Pocahontas" **_**soundtrack. **


	16. Act 41: The Battle Part 1

_**Once upon a time there was a man renowned for his kindness. Every day, the man would assist anyone needing help in any way he knew how, and all praised his wonderful work and personality. The people heralded the man as him a saint and a hero, and remained totally ignorant of the fact that to balance out the man's goodness, his shadow had to be darker than all the other shadows in the land.**_

* * *

**Act 41: The Battle (Part 1)**

**(((Wizards in Winter)))**

_**"I…won't…"**_

_**Fakir struggled to stand, looking out of the corner of his squinting eye to search for something at least semi-sharp to fight with. **_

"_**I will not become a raven!" he shouted in fury and pain, his eyes full of fire.**_

'**You can't fight me, Fakir,'**_** the raven's voice rang slyly through his head. **_**'Don't you see? I can help you…'**

"_**You…liar!" Fakir growled, his head bent downward as he clenched his heart.**_

'**Resisting me will get you nothing…I am your fate. Fate can't be resisted.'**

"_**I resisted it before…and I will never…give into a fate of you!"**_

'**Resisted? Oh, you mean resisting _The Prince and the Raven'_****s plot…well yes, that is true…but _who_ resisted that? Not _you_…'**

_**The image of a little yellow duck with a single stray feather sticking up from its head and wide blue eyes dancing passionately while being pushed and hurt by ravens came over Fakir's mind. **_

"_**A…Ahiru…" Fakir stammered weakly, his eyes filling with pain.**_

'**That's right,'**_** sneered the raven's voice. **_**'You have no say over the story. You're a writer…but you need her in order to do anything. Even when you're not a knight, you're **_**still**_** useless!'**

_**Images flooded Fakir's mind: him trying to comfort a crying Mytho after receiving his heart shard of fear…him falling into the underground lake after breaking Mytho's swan sword… Mytho crying out in pain when the raven's blood in his heart first surfaced…him picking up duck-Ahiru after she got hurt in her encounter with the ghost knight…him writing Drosslemeyer's words of Ahiru moving deeper and deeper into the Lake of Despair…**_

_**Fakir felt a cold, painful feeling in his chest: a feeling of helplessness. "No…"**_

'**You were helpless all along. You can't save anyone…so why bother trying?'**

_**Fakir straightened up, lifting his head up, as his eyes grew a red glint.**_

"_**Yes…why bother…"**_

* * *

Fakir smirked wryly as he journeyed through the dark, raven-conquered palace at Musouka Lake, dragging the limp body of Vulture behind him carelessly. 

"You were hard to turn, I admit, Fakir," the writer spoke, but it was the words of the raven on his lips and not his own. "But in the end…ravens always find a heart's weaknesses…"

* * *

Princess Tutu landed in front of Vulture's castle, gently folding her white swan wings around her as if it were a feathery cape, as she looked upon it. 

Sharp soot-black stones melded together with cracked gray plaster to create a fortress that could terrify children and warriors alike. Raven-like gargoyles perched on the parapets and ledges with their ruby eyes glinting evilly down at outsiders, making it difficult for one to tell if they were truly gargoyles or if they were motionless ravens waiting to strike. The large castle door was the only part of the castle that was not black or gray, but the wood was stained dark and the air around it had the dead scent of blood.

But the castle's visual ferocity was not what held the ballerina's attention so intently.

'_There is magic lingering here…but it's not Geier's,'_ Tutu thought, her wise blue eyes narrowing slightly. _'Is the raven using a different source of magic?'_

Prometheus, who had been carrying Mytho on his back as he flew, landed behind Tutu. Krishna carrying Rue, Carmen carrying Demi and Li carrying Helios soon followed his lead and came down to the ground.

"Hime," said Krishna as Rue slid off his back, "are we really going to just barge in like this? Shouldn't we make a plan?"

"We don't need such tactics," Princess Tutu answered, her voice much more confident and wise than Ahiru's normal innocent tone. "Ravens are prone to try to surprise, as to wreck a lot of damage and then leave quickly. We already know this battle will be long and hard, and it should be fought nobly."

Mytho nodded in agreement, unsheathing his swan-adorned sword solemnly. "This is the final battle…either the raven will die, or we will."

Rue and Demi exchanged a slightly worried look, before they nodded determinedly as well. Helios unsheathed his sword, Komadori, in a movement identical to Mytho's, and Li stepped up, extended a hand to grab hold of the dirty black ring on the door serving as a doorknocker and pulled on it.

The heavy door creaked open slowly in a foreboding manner, and then hung open in a malicious attempt of innocent as if to beckon the group inside.

Tutu took the first step inside the cold darkness of the castle, soon followed by Mytho and the others.

The castle, so much like the ruins of Cygnus, held a look of grand heritage and splendor that was soiled by the ravens' presence. The hall the group stepped into upon entering was a grand main hall with floors that held their reflections in the bronze, colorful scraps of tapestries on the walls and a large chandelier with sharp glass feathers shooting out from it.

At the back of the hall was a stone riser with a pair of wooden thrones spattered with blood, and lying inanimate upon the left throne where the king would sit was the dirty-blond-haired, middle-aged wizard Vulture.

Prometheus shot over to the wizard, taking his sword out and pointing it at his throat threateningly.

"Don't move, or you die!" he snarled viciously.

But Vulture didn't move in the slightest in response to Prometheus's movements. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slack.

The others approached Prometheus and the motionless wizard cautiously.

"Is he…_dead_?" Demi inquired hesitantly.

Li held a hand up to Vulture's mouth. "No, he's breathing…lightly, but he is. He might be unconscious."

"No," Princess Tutu murmured. "Remember, the true Geier isn't controlling his own body. His soul is too much consumed by the raven for his true self to have any say in what he does, even if the raven were to leave his body to die, for he cannot fight through the darkness the raven has created inside him."

"But where is the raven?" asked Mytho. "Why would he leave his host's body if there is still life and magic in it?"

There was a chorus of angry caws, and a flock of raven warriors jumped down from the chandelier and surrounded them, pointing claw-sharp swords at them. The group huddled together in alarm at the abruptness of their entrance, but turned around at the sound of a dark chuckle from behind the right throne.

"So you were actually foolish enough to come," the laugh's owner's voice echoed around the large hall. "I at first had wondered if you would change your mind."

"It's the raven," Rue whispered to Mytho and Tutu, her eyes narrowing in both hatred and fear. "I can hear it in his voice."

Mytho stepped forward, his amber eyes flashing as he pointed his sword at the surrounding raven swordsmen. "Raven, you will pay for what you have done to my sister, my friends and my home…this I swear to you!"

The voice laughed. "Dramatic as always, aren't we, prince?"

"Put it down," Tutu told Mytho quietly.

Mytho, though hesitantly, obeyed. The swan-winged Tutu stepped forward, looking around as she spoke since she didn't know where the raven was hiding.

"Where is Fakir? Tell us!"

There was a pregnant silence. Then, very slowly, a cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows, before reaching a hand up and pulling his hood away from his face.

It was Fakir.

* * *

'_He's all right!'_ Ahiru thought, so relieved to see her friend. 

'_Wait, Odette,'_ Tutu warned her from inside her mind, _'let me make sure-'_

Ahiru was too happy to see Fakir was safe that she couldn't make herself listen to her mother's concern.

* * *

"_Fakir_!" Princess Tutu cried, her voice sounding less like the mature prima ballerina and more like Ahiru as she ran over to him. 

It was Rue, and not Tutu, that saw Fakir's emerald eyes flash scarlet.

"Ahiru, _no_!" cried Rue.

But it was too late.

"'_The ravens swarmed around the foolish Princess Tutu, cutting her off from the writer,'_" Fakir stated as if he were writing such a sentence in a story.

The raven warriors at once surrounded Princess Tutu and seized her arms in their sharp claws, before their claws became thick black chains that bound Tutu to the floor.

Princess Tutu struggled against the chains, but they were so tight she could barely move without the manacles cutting into her forearms.

"_Ahiru-san_!" Helios shouted, running forward as if to help her.

But Fakir spoke again.

"_'Called by the writer's power, flames burst forth from the ancient chandelier and surrounded the princess's companions.'_"

Helios was stopped as orange-red fire cut him off from Tutu, before it slithered around the remainder of the party like a malevolent snake.

Fakir, his face deformed by a smirk that made him look more psychotic than triumphant, bent down next to the chain-restrained Princess Tutu.

"Not bad, hmm?" he asked her quietly, flexing his hand as if they were claws preparing to seize hold of someone's neck. "Seems I have powers I didn't know I _had_…of course, Drosslemeyer could write stories without using his hands to physically write too. I wonder what _other_ things I can do…"

Fakir flourished a hand, and a barrage of raven feathers shot down from the ceiling, cutting Princess Tutu's swan wings like knives.

"_Odette_!" Mytho screamed from behind the flames.

Her white feathers stained with blood, Princess Tutu struggled to look up at Fakir, her blue eyes shining with an innocent kind of pain that only could belong to Ahiru.

"F-Fakir…"

Fakir seized Tutu's chin, forcing her to look into his red-glinting eyes. "To think you'd be so desperate, you'd _even_ summon Princess Tutu."

He snorted in derisive spite. "Baka…you can't just ask to dance with me and say all sorts of pretty words to _'save'_ me. I'm not Nezumi…I'm not that _pathetic_!"

"_Fakir_…" Tutu implored weakly.

"You think summoning her will solve all your problems like it always does?" Fakir plowed on ruthlessly. "When will you learn? Even if you're dressed up nice, your soul is that of a weak, worthless little girl."

"I…I…"

* * *

'_Don't listen to him, Odette!'_ Tutu's voice urged Ahiru from inside her head. 

But Fakir's words cut Ahiru deeply. The writer had been mean to her before they came together to save Mytho, but he had never ever said such hurtful things. Before, Fakir always seemed to know just what to say to bring her up…and now it seemed he knew just what to say to hurt her in the worse way.

'_Fakir…Fakir, why are you…?'_

* * *

"_Shut up_!" 

Princess Tutu and the raven-controlled Fakir turned in unison.

Rue had taken out a raven's feather and, holding it between two fingers, twirled in a rapid pirouette. As she shot around faster and faster, the black feather expanded into a black sheet that grabbed the flames off the ground around them, before it exploded in a bunch of light particles, taking the fire with it.

"How _dare_ you use Fakir against Ahiru, you cowardly raven!" Rue snarled, her red eyes flashing very dangerously.

Fakir turned to Rue with condescending hatred. "Well, well, well…Kraehe. So you've decided to ally with the prince against me? How _foolish_ of you…and how _foolish_ of you to dare to use raven magic against real ravens!"

In a single movement, the raven warriors leapt at Rue, but Mytho had jumped in front of her, and slashed at them to fight them off of her.

Fakir looked unfazed. "So you want to fight like that, prince?"

The writer held a hand out in front of him. Black raven magic shot from his hand and circled around in thin spirals to create a black sword that was an almost raven-version of Lohengrin's sword. Black metal feathers adorned the hilt, and the blade was ever so slightly bent as to look like a single raven's claw.

Fakir seized the hilt of the sword and swerved it above his head to point it at Mytho in a threatening sort of manner. "Come on here, prince. I don't have all day to kill you!"

Mytho swung his sword at Fakir, shouting a passionate battle cry, only to have the raven-controlled writer block his attack.

Princess Tutu watched in terror as the two swords met with vicious _CLANGS_ as the two friends fought, Mytho to prevent Fakir from hurting the others and Fakir to kill.

"Have you gotten _rusty_, prince?" Fakir scorned as he dodged one of Mytho's blows. "Is your heart so loving you can't bear to kill even a _raven_? Or are you just becoming weak like your father?"

His amber eyes flashing with anger, Mytho slashed his sword in the direction of Fakir's head; Fakir blocked the strike, pushing the blade away from him as the two swords were pressed against each other.

"I'm not a worthless knight anymore, prince!" Fakir snapped both angrily and sinisterly. "I'm sure you were so _proud_ to have at least _one_ person to grovel for you even when you weren't the prince! Well…now _you_ will do the groveling!"

He pushed Mytho back so hard the prince almost lost balance, but fortunately he was able to block Fakir when he thrust his blade once more in his direction.

Tutu's eyes were narrowed both in pain and anger._ 'Fakir…Siegfried…'_

She struggled again against the black chains, to no avail.

'_What do I do? I could possibly reach Geier…but I don't even __know__ Fakir…and I'm chained here…what am I supposed to __do__?' _

Just then a voice rang from her mind. _'Kaa-chan! Kaa-chan, will you listen to me?'_

Tutu's eyes widened. _'Odette…?'_

* * *

Ahiru's mind, to the two souls that were meeting within it, had a look similar to that of the gap in time where Drosslemeyer and his gears had lived. It was black and seemingly endless, with colorful images flashing over it to visualize thoughts, and currently Ahiru and Tutu were facing each other within it. 

It was the first time Ahiru had seen her mother. Her white hair was layered and feathery like Mytho's, she was as slim and graceful as a swan and her eyes shone an ocean-like blue just like Ahiru's own.

'_Kaa-chan…'_ Ahiru choked, before she swallowed and said, _'Kaa-chan, we can't let Fakir and nii-chan fight like this!'_

An image of raven-Fakir and Mytho fighting appeared behind her, being followed by one of raven-Mytho and Fakir fighting in the past.

Tutu grew a sad look. _'There's nothing I can do…it's as Fakir's story said, Princess Tutu is now chained down by the ravens' magic…and I don't know if I can move the raven from its host now that its host is Fakir.'_

Ahiru was silent for a moment. Then a picture of Tutu vanishing in the finale of _The Prince and the Raven_ flashed behind her, and she murmured,

'_Then…then I need to do it.'_

'_What?' _Tutu sounded surprised.

Ahiru bit her lip. _'Princess Tutu would be chained down…but I won't be…because I'm not Princess Tutu. And if Tutu can't reach Fakir…then maybe…I can.'_

Tutu looked almost speechless. Ahiru took her silence as disapproval.

'_I-I know I don't have magic…and I know I can't dance very well…but I…I have to __try__! I don't want Fakir to be like Vulture! I just want…I just want to save Fakir before…'_

She broke off, her eyes overflowing with tears.

'I…I care about Fakir too much…I can't lose him…like I almost lost nii-chan…' 

Tutu watched Ahiru cry for a moment, before her face gave way to a small smile. She moved over to her daughter and picked her chin up to make her look at her.

'_I understand, Odette,'_ Tutu whispered. _'You're absolutely right, you're not me…and yes, you might not dance skillfully…but you are wrong about one thing. You do have magic. Not mine, it's true…but you do have magic, magic that did not come from me…magic that could do one thing I could never do…'_

An image of duck-Ahiru dancing amongst yellow light to change the raven-consumed citizens of Kinkan Town back to their normal selves appeared behind Tutu. Ahiru watched the image, her cheeks still wet with tears, in confusion.

'_Magic to remove a raven's influence from one's heart,'_ Tutu finished with a smile. _'I have been able to help people face their inner demons and collect Siegfried's heart shards…but you have been the only one who could fight a raven in someone's heart.'_

A picture of duck-Ahiru and the raven-controlled Nezumi dancing together flickered on Ahiru's right.

'_I believe in you, Odette,'_ Tutu stated firmly. _'Save Fakir.'_

Ahiru stared for a moment, before nodding firmly.

* * *

There was a flash of white light around Princess Tutu that made the group as well as the raven-controlled Fakir and Mytho all turn around. 

"_Odette_!" Mytho shouted in worry.

When the white light faded, Ahiru stood in Tutu's place, duck wings, yellow gown and all.

'_I promise you, Fakir…'_ Ahiru thought determinedly as she brought her feet into third position and held her arms above her head, _'I won't let you down.'_

* * *

_** I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"_**Wizards in Winter": **_**Starts with Fakir resisting the raven in the beginning flashback at 0:28. The raven first starts talking at 0:31, and Fakir fights back against him with his statements in tandem to the dramatic beats. Fakir murmurs Ahiru's name before 0:50, and his five, quick flashbacks of Mytho and Ahiru's pains are at 0:57, 0:59, 1:01, 1:04 and1:06 and 1:07 respectively. Ends at 1:38 with the end of the scene with the raven-controlled Fakir. **

"_**The Battle"**_**: starts with Tutu landing in front of the palace, with her thoughts at 0:07. Krishna speaks at 0:17 and Li pulling the door open at 0:33. They walk into and look around the ruined castle until 1:08 when they see the unconscious Vulture. Mytho finishes speaking before the music stops at 1:35. Music starts again when Rue yells at the raven for using Fakir against Ahiru, with the black raven magic becoming a sword for Fakir at 1:49 and Mytho and Fakir start fighting at 1:56. Tutu's "What do I do?" chain of thoughts are at 2:12, and she thinks 'Odette…?' at 2:18. Ahiru first sees her mother at 2:31, Tutu starts her "There's nothing I can do," chain of speech at 2:41, and Ahiru says "Then…then I need to do it," right before 3:00. Ahiru starts her "I know I can't do magic…" chain of speech at 3:15, and Tutu replies to her at 3:40, with the flashback of duck-Ahiru dancing amongst yellow light at 3:55. Tutu speaks again at 4:01, the flashback of Nezumi and Ahiru is at 4:14, Tutu tells Ahiru she believes in her at 4:21 and Ahiru nods at 4:28. The flash of white light around Tutu shines at 4:32, Mytho cries "Odette!" at 4:38 and Ahiru thinks her promise to Fakir before the pieces ends at 4:47.**

**The piece **_**"Wizards in Winter"**_** is by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.**

**The piece **_**"The Battle"**_** is from the **_**"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" **_**soundtrack.**


	17. Act 42: The Battle Part 2

_**Once upon a time there was a woman born with two souls. One soul, a kind and loving soul, usually came to play in times of joy, while the other, a logical and cruel soul, came out in times of anger or sadness. Nonetheless, the woman fell in love with a man and the two married. Yet when the man became a dark wizard, the woman couldn't reach her husband enough in this negative situation to change his mind…for you see, the man only fell in love with the woman's kind soul, and had no emotional reason to listen to the cruel one.**_

* * *

**Act 42: The Battle (Part 2)**

**(((Pas De Deux)))**

Fakir's heart was now dark and cold. To the soul of the writer trapped inside of it, it was an empty night with no hint of an end to be found. Shadows of those he cared about flickered into focus around him, before they were enveloped in the raven's darkness inching deeper into Fakir's heart, trying to erase all traces of humanity.

Fakir bent down on one knee, his head down in misery as his arm arched around his chest as if to feebly shield himself from the darkness. The raven's words still echoed in his head, pounding painfully loud in his ears.

'_**Even when you're not a knight, you're **_**still**_** useless!'**_

The raven's voice then slowly morphed into Rue's saying a scornful phrase she'd said when Fakir still knew her as the raven princess Kraehe.

"_**A wandering knight unable to do anything? The part fits you well, Fakir."**_

Then her voice became Mytho's when his heart had been contaminated with raven's blood.

_**"You're a knight who couldn't even have the strength to die…what can you do?"**_

Fakir's emerald eyes were hollow and lifeless as he glanced around at the people flickering in and out of the darkness.

One was a familiar woman with long dark hair like his, and the sound of an echoing cry accompanied her as she ran toward Fakir, her face full of terror.

Fakir held his arm outstretched as if to take her hand, but before Fakir could reach his mother, she had faded away into nothingness amongst angry raven cawing and a loud scream of pain.

Fakir raised his head up as tears trickled from his angrily grieved eyes, falling gracefully down onto his knees as if praying for an end to the painful memories returning to him.

He was dancing, in the darkest despair of his heart, a seemingly endless dance, for the raven had triumphed over his will, and nothing else stood between the raven and victory over him.

* * *

"_Ahiru-chan_!" cried Demi. 

Mytho and the raven-controlled Fakir had stopped fighting and both turned to Ahiru as the black raven chains around her arms fell away into ash and she stood up straight with her arms arched upon her head and her blood-stained yellow wings spread.

The red-eyed Fakir looked like he'd been caught off guard. "W-what the-?"

Ahiru looked straight at him, and he couldn't help but flinch slightly.

'_She's…she's given up Princess Tutu's magic?'_ the raven within Fakir's heart realized in shock.

"Fakir, you don't want to do this," Ahiru implored, reaching one hand out to him and holding the other to her heart. "You're ni-chan's _knight_, Fakir! You don't want to hurt him."

Fakir scoffed, again redeeming his confident demeanor.

"Baka! Talking to me about my role in the story won't get you anywhere. I'm the useless knight…and you're a sorry little wretch masquerading as Princess Tutu. We fit our roles well, don't we?"

"You're wrong," Ahiru dissented, holding her arms out with her hands upturned as to mime _"no."_ "The story doesn't decide what we are…only _we_ do! You _taught_ me that, Fakir! You were fated to die, but you _didn't_…you chose to not give up trying to protect ni-chan, even with your fate and without your sword!"

"_Protect_?" Fakir repeated scornfully. "How mindless. I have never been able to protect anyone. You don't know a thing."

"I know _you_!" Ahiru shouted, turning back in an ungraceful pirouette while still holding a hand out to him. "Your will to protect ni-chan and the others is your real feelings, Fakir! What you're feeling now, this desire to destroy everything…that's the _raven_ talking, Fakir!"

The raven-controlled Fakir's eyes narrowed. He spread his arms, his hands bent into almost claws, and he leapt over to her with a vicious tours en l'air, twirling in mid-air amongst black raven magic that slammed Ahiru like a wind out of a hurricane. The red-haired princess was almost thrust backward from the strength, but fortunately was just barely able to keep balance.

Li and Helios both moved to try and aid Ahiru, but Fakir flourished a hand in their direction.

Thick black diamond spikes shot up through the ground, creating a cage-like wall between the group and Fakir and Ahiru.

"_Odette_!" yelled Mytho, pounding on the diamond wall desperately.

"_Hime_!" Prometheus and Krishna cried in unison.

Fakir landed in front of Ahiru, his red-shining eyes almost smirking down at her.

"How _pathetic_."

With an arrogant plié, he crossed his arms on his chest, his hands bent into claws.

"Dancing as Princess Tutu is one thing…but what can _you_ do? You don't have Princess Tutu's magic, and you're a wretched excuse for a dancer…what in the darkest hell can _you_ do?"

Ahiru slowly got to her feet and looked up, and the raven-controlled Fakir's arrogant expression faltered when he saw that she was…_smiling_.

The young princess raised her arms above her head and lifted her left leg up shakily en dehors before stepping into a plié and leaping with a short, delicate jeté close to him.

"_What can I do? Not very much,"_ she answered quietly, solely in gestures. _"After all…I'm just a girl. But…Fakir is just a boy."_

The raven-controlled Fakir stiffened, suspicion filling his eyes, as he pirouetted backward, his arms flapping slightly at his sides like menacing raven wings. _"What are you going on about?"_

"_I'm just a girl, and Fakir's just a boy,"_ Ahiru gestured back seriously. _"Ni-chan and Helios-kun are just princes, and Rue-chan and Demi-chan are just their princesses. And you're just a raven. We're nothing more than what we are, unless we become more with our actions…so I can't do very much…but, compared to all the other actions in the rest of the world, neither can you."_

Abruptly Ahiru felt a shot of pain sear through her cheek, making her take a step back and hold her face. Fakir had slapped her hard enough to make her cheek the likely host of a future bruise.

"_Baka,"_ Fakir's movements seemed to sneer. _"What did I tell you before? Fancy words and dancing have no effect on me! Face it, princess…the Fakir you know is gone! His story powers are mine, and you will die by them!"_

Ahiru again looked up at him, her ocean-like eyes oddly calm. _"Maybe I will."_

Her lack of fear was almost unnerving to the raven-Fakir. Ahiru almost seemed to have no concept of how dangerous ravens or the power of stories could be…but that was unrealistic, considering everything she'd experienced before and after _The Prince and the Raven_.

"_Do you doubt my abilities?"_ Fakir snapped through his dance, moving around her like a hawk. _"With both raven magic and the power of stories, I am the most powerful being in the world…and you dare __mock__ me!"_

"_I'm not mocking you,"_ Ahiru danced in return. _"Maybe I will die. Maybe I will fail. But I am not giving up…not on fighting against you, and definitely on Fakir!"_

"_Shut up!" _the raven-Fakir's dance seemed to snap.

But Ahiru didn't stop dancing._ "Fakir never gave up on me, even when I was helpless and clumsy and stupid. I still have faith in him, and nothing you say or do will make me stop believing in him!"_

The red-eyed Fakir roared in anger, raising a claw in a gesture as if to slice the red-haired princess in half…

But his hand was caught in mid-air.

Ahiru held his raven-clawed hand in both of hers with the most tenderness, her eyes focused solely on him in a gentle kind of seriousness.

The red-eyed Fakir stared at her in anger, before trying to pull his hand out of her grip. No matter what he tried, however, he couldn't seem to move his hand.

"L-let go!" he snarled, but the fear in his voice was not entirely masked by anger.

Ahiru did not release him; instead her hands tightened ever so slightly around the claws, even though his sharp nails cut her palms and made them bleed.

And then, suddenly, Ahiru's chest began to glow with a faint light. The light expanded slowly, moving through her arms, legs and neck until the princess's entire body was shining a bright warm yellow.

"W-what the-!"

The raven-Fakir renewed his struggles against Ahiru's grip, further cutting Ahiru's palms, but the princess still would not let go, despite the loss of blood and the pain.

"I can't defeat you, raven," Ahiru said quietly, "and neither can Fakir…just like he or I couldn't defeat the Monster Raven alone."

She lifted one of her shining, bleeding hands from her grip on Fakir's hand and moved it to his chest to gently touch his heart. As she did, the yellow magic around it began to spread over Fakir.

The raven-controlled writer fought against Ahiru's grasp so much he looked like he was having a fit, crying out raven-like caws of anger and terror as he pulled in all directions desperately trying to escape the yellow magic surrounding him.

'_Apart, we may be useless,'_ Ahiru thought, her eyes blazing with emotion as she watched the raven-controlled Fakir struggle against her. _'But together, I know Fakir and I can do __anything__…even bring the raven down.'_

The yellow magic enveloped both of the figures in its embrace, blinding the observers. Ahiru was having problems holding onto the raven-controlled Fakir's claws as they continued to cut her, making her hands slippery with blood, but she was too afraid of losing her chance to reach Fakir to even think of letting go.

'_Fakir!'_ she thought, visualizing the writer in her mind and praying by some miracle her magic would allow her to reach him. _'Fakir!'_

* * *

_**"Fakir, please answer me…"**_

A voice was just barely audible through the screams and crying of the shadows surrounding Fakir.

Fakir looked up, his eyes still wet with tears, to see an odd yellow star blinking through the darkness…a star with an innocent female voice echoing from it.

'_That…voice…'_ Fakir's thoughts were moving very slowly. _'Who is that…?'_

_**"Please, Fakir…I need you…"**_

Fakir unsteadily struggled to his feet, squinting at the star, as it began to grow, its light shining through the recesses of the raven's darkness.

The light was brilliant and warmed Fakir in a way he couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it was actually physically warming him…or perhaps it was just illuminating the positive feelings of Fakir's heart that had been forced into the darkness of the raven's influence. No matter how it helped him, however, it gave the writer strength.

_**"Fakir…FAKIR!"**_

Fakir's emerald eyes became wide in realization.

'_Ahiru…'_

He ran toward the light frantically, reaching a hand out as if to grab it.

_'AHIRU!'_

* * *

The yellow light shining around Fakir abruptly flashed red; Fakir writhed, shrieking raven-like cries of pain, before the black raven whose claws were sinking into Fakir's back suddenly was revealed. 

Fakir shouted out in intense pain and anger, before the red magic around him became enough of a force to blast the raven out of his heart.

The raven cawed in alarm as it was thrust away from the two into the right wooden throne at the back of the hall. The black diamond barrier between Ahiru and Fakir and their friends blew away in the wind as if it had been made of dust.

Fakir's legs weakened and he collapsed; fortunately Ahiru was able to catch him, but his weight was too much for her, so she had to fall to her knees and hold his head on her shoulder as to keep balance.

"Fakir?" she whispered worriedly.

The writer's eyes blinked open and looked up at her. His eyes were once again emerald green.

"_Ahiru_…" he murmured weakly.

Ahiru's eyes filled up with tears of relief, and she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, burying her face into his dark green hair.

"Thank goodness…oh, _Fakir_!"

Mytho, Helios, Demi, Rue, Prometheus, Li, Krishna and Carmen all rushed over to the two.

"_Fakir-san_!" shouted Helios as he bent down beside them. "_Ahiru-san_! Are you both all right?"

"Chibi hime, you're bleeding all over!" Carmen cried in horror.

Li had glanced up to look for the raven, and just as suddenly he shot back up to his feet, his sword out and his eyes panicked.

"_Ouji_!"

Mytho whirled around as well, and also reacted in horror.

Vulture rose from the wooden throne he'd been lying on and got to his feet, his eyes once again shining raven red, his light brown vulture wings outstretched threateningly and his hand glowing with violent dark purple magic.

"The raven took over Vulture's body again," Demi realized, her violet eyes narrowing in fear.

Vulture chuckled darkly. "Congratulations, princess…so you were able to deliver a pathetic knight from my power. I'm impressed. But what now? Will you kill both Vulture _and_ me?"

Prometheus snarled viciously, taking out his sword and brandishing it at the wizard. "Don't underestimate us, you rat-with-wings!"

"No," Fakir dissented sharply.

The group turned to him as he struggled to his feet, aided by Ahiru. The writer's eyes were filled with fire.

"Trying to kill the raven while it's inside Vulture is a waste of time and energy," he muttered. "Vulture's magic is still strong, even though his body is dying, and the raven has access to every spell and curse…and besides, the raven's memory would eat away at us forever if we killed an innocent person to get to it."

Vulture smirked wryly. Rue looked at Fakir in both anger and concern.

"What are you saying, Fakir?" she demanded. "We can't just let it _live_!"

Fakir didn't reply; instead he answered the raven princess's question by raising a hand up into the air.

"'_With all of his resolve,'_" Fakir stated firmly as if he were writing his words into a story, _"'the writer called forth the Sword of Lohengrin to help him battle against the raven foe.'_"

And to the shock of everyone, including Vulture, a blast of silver light shot around Fakir's hand. A metal blade seemed to flow out of the writer's palm, adding a silver straight-edged hilt and handle until it created Lohengrin's sword in mid-air.

Fakir seized the handle of the sword, pointing it at Vulture.

"Well," he murmured with a slight hint of satisfaction, "looks like I can thank you for one thing at least, raven…showing me a new way to write so I'm _not_ just sitting uselessly on the sidelines!"

Vulture at first stepped back as if intimidated. Then his face morphed into a very ugly smirk, and he laughed scornfully.

"You fool!" he scoffed. "You don't _honestly_ think you can kill me with that little play-sword? I would've thought the reincarnation of Lohengrin would know better! Of course Lohengrin was a fool to the end…I suppose you would know nothing _different_!"

But Fakir's resolute expression hadn't flickered at all during Vulture's mocking. Instead he turned to Ahiru, his eyes serious.

"Are you with me?" he asked her quietly.

Ahiru blinked in surprise. Then she smiled and nodded firmly.

Fakir returned her smile, before turning back to Vulture and declaring the next words of his story,

"'_The writer poured his energy into the blade of his past self and opened up a portal into the heart of the Vulture, so that he and the princess could reach out to the wizard's soul still trapped underneath the raven's darkness!'_"

Black magic shot from Fakir's blade and slammed into Vulture's torso like an arrow on a target, and a black, endless-looking hole suddenly began to grow in the middle of his chest at the spot Fakir's magic had hit him.

Vulture shouted out in alarm, trying to rub the black hole off of him as if it were some kind of bug.

"Ready, Ahiru?" asked Fakir.

"Yes!" Ahiru assented firmly, placing her hand on Fakir's still grasping Lohengrin's sword.

Fakir wrapped his arm around his princess, and the two together took a great jeté and leapt into the darkness of the portal.

* * *

"What's this?" said Drosslemeyer as he watched the scene in his gears. "Well, it seems the useless knight for once was unusually _astute_…after all, it's much easier to defeat an enemy from the inside by stealth than the outside by force…" 

He then chuckled as he watched Vulture fall to the ground as the portal on his chest vanished.

"But it's not safe to be inside the heart of one who is _dying_, my dear Princess Odette…get out of there quickly before Vulture's body dies, or else the knight's and your souls will be destroyed along with Vulture's! Heh, heh, heh…"

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"_**Romeo and Juliet"**_**: starts at the beginning of the chapter inside Fakir's heart. With the flashbacks, Rue's comment starts just before 0:49. Fakir sees his mother at 1:04, she vanishes at 2:15 and the piece stops at 1:26 as that sequence ends. The music returns at 5:01 for Ahiru's "you're wrong" chain of speech, with Fakir's tours en l'air at 5:26. The music ends at 5:53 after Fakir asks Ahiru, "What in the darkest hell can you do?"**

"_**Pas de Deux"**_**: starts as Ahiru struggles to get up after the second part of "Romeo and Juliet" ends. Ahiru's gestures say "What can I do? Not very much," at 0:14. The music pauses for Fakir's slap at 0:46. The piece then moves to 1:50 for Fakir's next statement, and the piece stops at 2:53 when Ahiru catches Fakir's hand mid-slash.**

"_**The Battle"**_**: starts after **_**"Pas de Deux"**_** ends with Ahiru catching Fakir's strike in mid-air at 4:35, with Ahiru saying her "I can't defeat you, raven" chain of speech at 4:51 and the yellow magic moving over Fakir at 5:05. Ahiru's cry of "FAKIR!" is heard in Fakir's heart at 5:32, and Fakir shouts back "AHIRU!" at 5:35, yelling out in pain back in the outside world until the music stops at 5:44 after Fakir blasts the raven out of his heart. The music starts up again when Vulture starts his "you fool" chain of speech, and Ahiru and Fakir leap into the portal at 6:24.**

**The piece **_**"Romeo and Juliet- Overture Fantasy"**_** is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.**

**The piece **_**"Pas De Deux"**_** (otherwise known as **_**"Sugarplum Fairy and a Cavalier"**_**) is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet **_**"The Nutcracker."**_

**The piece **_**"The Battle"**_** is from the**_** "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"**_** soundtrack. **


	18. Act 43: The Battle Part 3

_**Once upon a time there was a woman. She was a normal woman, with a normal job and a normal life, until she married a man who she didn't love and who didn't love her. Her husband, bitter at being unable to marry the woman he really loved, took his anger out on the woman and abused her grievously. The woman knew that her husband had no right to do so, but she didn't know what to do. What is more tragic…the woman's situation or that she didn't attempt to find a way out?**_

* * *

**Act 43: The Battle (Part 3)**

**(((Waltz of the Flowers)))**

Ahiru watched the portal close behind her and Fakir, before facing forward once more to examine the place she and her writer friend had just entered.

The interior of Vulture's heart that they had landed in held the appearance of an elegant garden lit by blue-tinted lanterns: a garden filled with marble benches, rose bushes trimmed into different types of birds and a large diamond fountain with flowing water. Sadly the rest of the wizard's heart, like Fakir's had been under the raven's influence, was dark and cold, but the impact of the raven's darkness on Vulture was much more apparent and terrifying. The darkness around the garden rippled with red like it was a river made of oil and blood, slowly creeping further into the gentle blue light of the garden like a cautious, manipulative spider. The chill in the air was both cold and terrifying enough to freeze one where he stood. Like in Fakir's heart, shadows of people flickered throughout the garden, but the fear-filled and painful screams of the shadows almost seemed to diminish the shock of their appearance.

Fakir steadied his arm around Ahiru, his eyes flashing with distrust and gruff fear as they moved over the scenery.

"Stay close to me…I don't doubt the raven will stop controlling Vulture's body so it can go through his heart after us."

Abruptly a female scream rang out from one of the shadows in the blackness. Startled, Fakir tightened his grip around Ahiru, and the princess involuntarily felt herself flinch away from his touch at the pressure he unknowingly placed on her hurt wings.

Fakir looked at her in slight surprise at her moving away from him, before he noticed the blood over her. Likely it was the first time he'd really seen how wounded she was; his eyes widened in faint horror.

"I did this to you."

It was not a question. The writer's voice was very quiet and quite hoarse, as if his throat was tightening and he was having problems talking steadily.

Ahiru didn't know how to respond. All she could think of to do was to wrap her arms around Fakir and hold onto him tightly in a kind of reassurance. Fakir at first couldn't seem to move; then, after a moment, he returned the gesture, resting his head on top of hers.

"You didn't do it," Ahiru said at last. "It was the _raven_, not you…you didn't know what you were doing."

Fakir pulled away from her, his emerald orbs filled with pained regret. "I should have been _stronger_, I shouldn't have just-"

Ahiru placed a finger to his lips to quiet him. Fakir's face heated up with a blush and he couldn't seem to make himself argue anymore.

"Don't blame yourself," Ahiru told him quietly. "I mean…I've been weak _plenty_ of times, and you've had to help me be strong. Everyone needs that sometimes."

Fakir closed his eyes and sighed before he opened them once more determinedly and returned to the business at hand, looking back up at the rippling darkness above them with his jaw clenched.

"We need to find Vulture's soul…but this place looks _endless_…who _knows_ how long it would take-"

He abruptly stopped at a sudden, quiet cluster of sound. It took him and Ahiru a moment to realize it was a warm, lullaby-like stanza of music.

'_The tune from my music box…'_ Ahiru realized, her eyes very wide.

Without another word, she ran off toward the source of the music. Fakir called at her to come back, before forgetting the tactic and running after her.

The two ran through the garden, passing peacock bushes and marble benches and following the quiet, haunting melody toward its source.

"_**On the wind, cross the sea,  
Hear this song and remember…"**_

At last they reached a bush in the shape of a swan with its white-rose-decorated wings outstretched and a semi-large opening in its chest. Through the entrance was a small earthen hollow large enough for two people to hide in, and in the shadows of that hiding place was the shape of a person.

_**"Soon you'll be home with me,  
Once upon a December…"**_

Hesitantly Ahiru bent down beside the hollow in the swan bush, trying to see the figure better. It took her a few moments to make herself say something.

"Um…excuse me?"

The figure abruptly shifted as if turning around in alarm. Then, very slowly, the figure stuck his head out of the tiny cavern, before hesitantly climbing out.

The form was of a teenager no older than Ahiru and only a bit shorter than Fakir. He was slim, with shoulder-length blond-brown hair, warm hazel eyes and, oddly enough, a pair of light brown vulture wings sprouting out of his back. He was adorned in a set of dark scarlet wizard robes with had a gold, _"C"_ initialed badge fastened to the chest.

It was a younger version of Vulture…or, as Ahiru remembered Baltazar had called him, Geier.

The teenage Geier had a very dull look in his eyes at first, as if he were expecting Ahiru and Fakir to immediately run away, screaming in terror. After a long moment of silence, however, neither of the two had made a movement and Geier's expression morphed into slight confusion.

His eyes moved from Ahiru to Fakir, and his eyes filled with furious shock before they narrowed sharply.

"_Lohengrin_!" he growled fiercely.

He lifted a hand, purple magic covering it like a menacing glove, and rose it in a threatening sort of way toward Fakir. Fakir in retaliation brought his sword up protectively in front of him, preparing to defend.

"_No_!"

Ahiru, not thinking at all about what Geier could do to her, shot between the two and seized hold of Geier's wrist.

Her gentle, yet firm grip took Geier by surprise; his magic faded from his hand and the young wizard stared at Ahiru in disbelief. Her blue eyes seemed to entrance him, for that's what seemed to hold his attention.

"Who…who _are_ you?" Geier whispered.

"I'm Odette," the red-haired princess answered, "but you can call me Ahiru."

"Ahiru?" Geier repeated faintly. "That means _'duck'_…"

He suddenly noticed her wings, and his eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

"Duck wings…?" he realized.

Ahiru nodded. "I'm under the Curse of Wings."

Geier's shock cooled slightly. "I see…your avian form is a duck."

He glanced back at his own wings in a kind of disgust. "When day comes, you just become another bird and just fit right in…you're very lucky."

"_Lucky_?" Fakir repeated, his voice quaking with anger. "She's trapped at Musouka Lake as long as you keep under that curse!"

"_Fakir_!" Ahiru reproached worriedly.

Geier looked confused but also angry at Fakir's words. "How dare you! I've never cursed anyone in my life."

"Don't give me that crap!" Fakir retorted, his emerald eyes flashing. "You know full well what you've done, and you just sit here uselessly and do _nothing_ while the raven hurts innocent people!"

"_Stop it_!" Ahiru shouted.

The writer and the wizard glowered at each other fiercely, but stopped arguing at Ahiru's words.

"You're not Lohengrin," Geier said at last as he glared at Fakir. "He's _stupid_, but he never makes random and unfounded accusations."

He then turned to Ahiru, spreading his vulture wings and clasping his hands out in front of him as if to gesture her to speak.

"What is your purpose here?" he asked her.

Ahiru, instead of speaking, glanced up at the red-rippling darkness above them as if to make sure the raven wasn't approaching, before raising her arms above her head, circling her hands and then extending a hand to Geier.

The movement surprised Geier, his hazel eyes bright like he was experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu. After a long moment, he slowly took her hand.

Fakir watched as the two danced, looking gruffly concerned for Ahiru. Ahiru's dance was kind and full of understanding; Geier's, however, although filled with honesty, still looked to the writer like a vulture swooping over his prey.

"_Why are you here?"_ Geier's movements seemed to ask Ahiru. _"No one has ever come here before…"_

"_There is a raven inside your heart,"_ Ahiru gestured back to him. _"It's controlling your body and making you do horrible things."_

"_How can it be controlling my body?"_ Geier inquired, looking slightly suspicious. _"I'm right here…there's no raven."_

"_You're inside your heart right now,"_ Ahiru answered through her dance, gesturing around at the garden. _"All of this…this is the inside of your heart…the last part that's not being controlled by the raven."_

Geier didn't seem to want to believe her. _"How can this be true?"_

He twirled away from her in a backward pirouette, arching one of his arms across his chest in an angrily noble kind of way.

"_Just because I have vulture wings doesn't mean I'm bad! I'm not a bad person…I know I'm not a bad person! You don't know anything!"_

His movements slashed at her abruptly like a sword, not out of hatred or raven spite, but still out of anger and pain.

"_Ahiru_!"

Fakir ran forward as if to aid her, but before he could, a figure suddenly came down from the rippling ebony and scarlet sky.

The figure resembled the older Vulture Ahiru and Fakir knew from outside the wizard's body at Musouka Lake, except his eyes shone a bright red and his normal vulture wings were replaced with black raven wings.

"You're more trouble than you're _worth_, story spinner!" the raven of Vulture's heart cawed angrily.

It slashed at Fakir with a deadly sharp set of claws; fortunately the writer was just barely able to dodge the blow.

Ahiru tried to help Fakir, but a blast of purple magic from one of Geier's flourishing hands shot at her and forced her to jump away both from the blast and her friend.

"_I'm not telling you any of this because of your wings!"_ Ahiru tried to reason with Geier through his dance. _"I'm only trying to help you!"_

"_Liar!"_ Geier's movements seemed to snap.

The teenage wizard stopped for a moment, his feet resting in third position and his hazel eyes blazing.

Ahiru couldn't understand why Geier was still fighting her. Didn't he see the raven-Vulture and Fakir battling behind her? They were in his clear line of sight!

Then she realized…

'_He can't see the raven…he hasn't acknowledged its presence, so he can't see it!'_

"Everyone, my entire life," Geier murmured, his hands rising up on either side of him like claws, "they _all_ thought I was evil because I'm part vulture…what makes _you_ any different?"

Ahiru looked back at Fakir in worry, wanting to help him, but knowing the only way she could help him at the moment was to reach out to Geier and have him see the raven himself. The raven's darkness around the garden crept steadily through it, surrounding them like a menacing flock of ravens around a dying animal. Soon, Ahiru knew, the darkness would cover the last part of Vulture's heart and kill Fakir, the wizard and her in one blow.

Ahiru faced Geier once more, her eyes determined.

"The difference is…I've met you before," she answered him. "I've met you, and I _know_ you're not bad! The raven's made you do _horrible_ things…but I've met you before, Geier-san!"

The princess calling him by name startled the dirty-blond-haired male.

_'Geier-san…no one has ever called me that…except…'_

A voice the wizard didn't even realize had been in his memory suddenly echoed through his mind.

* * *

_**"I'm Odette! It was nice meeting you, Geier-san!"**_

* * *

Geier's hazel eyes widened as he stared at Ahiru.

"You…you were that little girl…at the ball…"

Ahiru smiled, nodding. "That's right. I'm Princess Odette of Cygnus."

"_Cygnus_…"

Geier looked speechless.

"But…why am I only now just _remembering_ you?" he demanded. "_Any_ of this?"

"Because until now you haven't attempted to _face_ it," Ahiru answered. "_That's_ why you can't see the raven, even though it's right in _front_ of you! As long as you stay in this part of your heart and run away from it, the raven will live on and more people will _suffer_! _That's_ why Fakir and I are here…we can't defeat the raven _alone_…we need your help!"

Geier stared at her for a very long moment, until at last he closed his eyes. His forehead scrunched up in concentration, and after a long moment, his body began to glow with purple magic.

The raven-Vulture and Fakir both whirled around at the sudden bright light, the raven's eyes filled with alarm and Fakir's eyes full of amazement.

The young wizard rapidly began to age; his hair grew longer and rougher, his robes grew ripped and stained, his frame grew taller and his face became fuller and gained middle-age-worthy wrinkles and age spots.

When the light at last vanished and Geier opened his eyes once more, they were filled with sorrow and pain. Despite that, however, Ahiru could see a depth and wisdom there that had been absent from the younger Geier's eyes. He had accepted the memories of the atrocities he'd committed and gained wisdom from doing so.

The older wizard smiled at Ahiru. "Thank you, little princess."

He then raised a hand into the air, ignoring the raven's blackness creeping closer around him and Ahiru from all sides. With a flourish of his raised hand, light spiraled from his palm into a thin rod until it became a white magic staff with the icon of a swan adorning the head.

The wizard pointed the swan-garnished staff at his raven lookalike, making the doppelganger take a fearful step back.

"You made me destroy the kingdom I called _'home!'_" Geier stated in a deadly whisper. "You made me destroy the man that Tutu loved! I will not allow you to harm her loved ones, or anyone, ever again!"

His wings spread, Geier leapt in a great jeté toward the raven-Vulture. The raven slashed at him desperately with its deadly claws, but the wizard dodged them with apparent ease. It was obvious, though, that the ease was due to his determination to destroy the raven once and for all.

Fakir hurried to Ahiru, jumping in front of her protectively as the raven's blackness began to move over them. The knight-turned-writer wrapped his arms tightly and protectively around Ahiru, and the duck-turned-princess gripped onto his shirt tightly, staring at the darkness creeping up their legs in terror.

"Ahiru…" Fakir murmured suddenly.

Struggling not to look at the darkness creeping up her waist and Fakir's arms, Ahiru looked into his eyes, to find immense seriousness and dolor there.

"If we die here…" he whispered, struggling to continue talking as the darkness almost strangled his neck, "just know that…I love you."

Geier raised his staff, crying a battle cry loud enough to echo through his raven-rotted heart, before thrusting the purple-shining weapon at the raven with enough force to slice in half.

The raven's black and Geier's purple magic blasted together in brilliant battle, before becoming a bright, conflicting white that blinded the onlookers as well as Drosslemeyer watching the scene in his gears.

* * *

_**I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"_**Prologue"**_**: The tune of **_**"Once Upon a December." **_**Starts when Fakir stops at the appearance of a sound at 1:47, with Geier singing when Marie and Anastasia do on the track, with the music ending right after the song. **

"_**Waltz of the Flowers"**_**: Known as Ahiru's theme. Starts when Geier asks Ahiru who she is, with Geier's "When day comes…" chain of speech at 0:20, Ahiru's "Stop it!" at 0:36 and Geier spreading his wings at 0:46. He asks, "What is your purpose here?" at 0:50, and Ahiru glances around at the raven's darkness before circling her hands above her head at 0:56 and reaching her hand out to Geier at 0:59. The music then skips ahead to 2:10 for Geier taking Ahiru's hand, and Geier pirouettes away from Ahiru at 2:33. Fakir cries, "Ahiru!" at 2:45, the raven-Vulture first enters at 2:49, and Geier rests for a moment with his feet in third position at 3:12. Ahiru thinks her "he can't see it" chain of thoughts right before Geier starts his "Everyone, my entire life," chain of speech at 3:27. The music then skips from 3:42 to 4:25 for when Ahiru looks back at Fakir fighting and the raven darkness creeping into the garden, and Ahiru faces Geier once more at 4:31. Geier hears little Odette's voice in his head at 4:53 and breathes "Cygnus…" at 5:03. Geier closes his eyes at 5:29, glows purple at 5:35 and starts to age at 5:43. Geier opens his eyes again at 5:58, thanking Ahiru at 6:04 and his magic staff completely coming together in his hand at 6:09. Geier lands beside the raven at 6:21 and Fakir jumps over to Ahiru at 6:24, finishing his love confession at 6:36. Geier thrusts the staff at the raven at 6:43 and the raven and Geier's magic combine into white as the music ends at 6:45.**

**The piece **_**"Prologue"**_** and the song **_**"Once Upon a December"**_** is from the "**_**Anastasia**_**" soundtrack.**

**The piece **_**"Waltz of the Flowers"**_** is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and featured in his ballet **_**"The Nutcracker."**_


	19. Act 44: Aftermath

_**Once upon a time there was a young man who started to write a story. This writer had, in another man's story, been a knight whose fate was to die without aiding his prince. But by combining his power with a duck, the writer gave the prince, his princess and the town they lived in a happy ending. The writer and the duck ended the prince's tale happily, and then proceeded to finish the tales of others happily as well. Could they finish any and every tale happily…even their own?**_

* * *

**Act 44: Aftermath**

**(((Transformation)))**

Back in the castle at Musouka Lake, Demi, Rue and the other observers were forced to shield their eyes as the limp body of Vulture suddenly was engulfed in a hot, brilliant light. Mytho tried squinting to see through the dazzling magic, desperate for some sign of hope that his knight and sister were safe.

When the white light at last faded, two bodies lay on top of each other beside Vulture's: a dark-green-haired writer with his arms wrapped protectively around a yellow-winged, red-haired princess.

"_Fakir-san_!"

"_Hime_!"

Fakir's eyes blinked open slowly, taking in the sight of Ahiru under him. With Mytho's help, he struggled to sit up.

"Ahiru," he whispered, touching her face gently. "Ahiru?"

Slowly Ahiru opened her eyes as well, blinking up at him in confusion and weariness. "F-Fakir…?"

She glanced past him to see Mytho and the others. "Ni-chan…Rue-chan…"

"Thank goodness you're safe," breathed Krishna in immense relief. "We thought that Vulture-"

Ahiru's eyes suddenly widened. "_Geier-san_…"

She and Fakir shot their heads around in unison to look at the body of the wizard behind them. Ahiru immediately started gently shaking him.

"Geier-san? _Geier-san_?"

Her only response was the wizard's body glowing with purple light, before the light flowed out of the body to rest above it in the form of a see-through man with long dirty blond hair, hazel eyes and light brown vulture wings.

"Vulture's soul," Li realized.

"Geier-san," Ahiru murmured. "I-I don't understand…why are you…?"

Geier gave a small smile. _"Little princess…my heart is much too rotted by the raven's influence for it to stand any longer. Fortunately I destroyed the raven, and that guaranteed our escape before my heart collapsed."_

Ahiru's eyes widened, filling up with horrified tears. "But…doesn't that mean-?"

"_I'll die?"_ Geier finished for her. _"Yes…and I'm glad. Within that heart so destroyed by the raven, I was not living, in this life or the next. I was lingering between the two…helpless and worthless…and I would've been forever were it not for you, Odette-chan. So please don't cry."_

For Ahiru had indeed begun to cry, even though she knew full well that Baltazar had told her and her companions that this would happen.

"I-I know I shouldn't be crying!" Ahiru cried weakly. "N-n-now that you can…rest in peace, but…I just can't _stop_!"

Mytho gave her a comforting hug. Fakir held onto her hand in tight reassurance.

Geier's face grew sad. _"You have such a large heart…you would even cry for the one who ruined your life and destroyed your home. I don't think I shall ever be able to make amends for the wrongs I've handed you and your brother."_

Mytho's eyes lay on Geier for a very long time, before he stated reassuringly, "Do not blame yourself. I know how a raven can poison one's heart…you didn't know what you were doing."

Geier gave the prince a grateful smile.

"_I…I can see her in you,"_ he murmured vaguely, glancing at each of the royal children. _"Both of you…it's as if your kindness is coming from Tutu herself…though I know she could never forgive me after what I did to Cygnus…to Lohengrin…"_

Ahiru suddenly felt the presence of a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Tutu had also moved from her host and was hovering behind her in a transparent form.

"_Tutu_," Geier breathed in disbelief, as if wondering if she was a hallucination.

Mytho, Prometheus and Rue also looked amazed. Tutu gave Geier a smile, before she moved forward past Ahiru and gently placed a transparent hand on top of one of his.

"_I have already forgiven you, my friend,"_ she told the wizard gently.

Geier's hazel eyes were overflowing with tears. "_Tutu_…"

The two friends shared a regretful, warm embrace. Then Tutu turned to Ahiru.

"_You did it, Odette,"_ she stated, her blue eyes full of both pride and seriousness, _"even without my help…now I must leave as well."_

Ahiru looked speechless. "But…_Kaa-chan_…"

"_The connection was fragile to begin with,"_ Tutu explained. _"Death is meant for the dead, and life is meant for the living. Your grandpa's magic can only last so long…and as the magic's and my purpose was to help you, I can see both the magic and my mission is to be finished. You no longer need my help…so I must return to the next life."_

Mytho and Ahiru both looked ready to say something, but a golden light suddenly shone above the two souls, making the group look up.

"Baltazar's calling us," Tutu commented lightly.

Geier gave her a wry smile. "He always _was_ the one to thrust us back into reality when we least wanted it."

The wizard looked at the group once more. "He'll have to wait, though…there's one more thing I have to take care of…"

With those words, Geier spread his wings grandly and stretched out his arms, before his chest began to glow with purple magic that flowed through his limbs until he was completely bathed in purple light.

Then, abruptly, Ahiru began to shine a bright yellow that made Fakir and Mytho beside her shield their eyes. One by one, the other four under the Curse of Wings also began to glow: Prometheus was bathed in red, Krishna green, Carmen blue and Li orange.

The four men and Ahiru involuntarily floated into the air, closing their eyes and aligning themselves in a circle around Geier as if in a trance. The circle of teenagers then were rotated around the wizard, faster and faster, as the lights around them glowed brighter and brighter.

Transparent forms of birds were slowly pulled out of Ahiru, Prometheus, Krishna, Carmen and Li's backs, each glowing with their respective colored magic, until they were floating behind their hosts, wings outstretched.

Geier glanced at each victim of his curse in turn, he closed his eyes determinedly, and he raised a magic-shining hand in a sharp brandishing gesture in Carmen and Li's direction.

The instant he made that gesture toward them, the bluebird behind Carmen and the hawk behind Li shattered into blue and orange magic, taking the two's wings along with them as they gently dropped to the ground.

Another brandish of Geier's hand banished the wings, eagle and blackbird of Prometheus and Krishna, leaving them to also fall beside Carmen and Li amongst the red and green shards of their see-through bird forms.

Finally, with one more hot purple-blazing gesture, Geier propelled his hand toward Ahiru, thrusting her image of a duck and her yellow wings into oblivion, before the princess likewise drifted back down to earth. Fakir ran forward to catch Ahiru before she touched the ground.

Prometheus, Krishna, Carmen and Li each shifted, opening their eyes and sitting up. At first they didn't seem to notice anything had happened.

Then Krishna made a choking noise in the back of his throat. "_Prometheus_!"

The Arabian reached hesitantly to touch Prometheus's back where his eagle wings had once been and no longer were.

"Your…your _wings_…"

Carmen and Li noticed it as well, reacting in similar shock to Krishna.

Prometheus looked speechless; he also felt his back for his wings as if praying silently that he wasn't dreaming.

At the realization that he wasn't, the Russian looked at Krishna, who looked at Li, who looked at Carmen. All of their faces shone with disbelief.

Then, completely out of nowhere, Carmen practically pounced on Li, screaming and cheering in passionate excitement.

"WE'RE FREE! FREE! WE'RE FINALLY…_FINALLY_…!"

"Get _off_ me, you idiot!" Li snapped, blushing very red and trying to shove the ecstatic Spaniard off of him.

Krishna laughed, before Prometheus surprised him by also wrapping his arms around him in a hug and twirling him around, crying out in enthusiasm.

They were finally free.

Ahiru's blue eyes blinked open, to see Fakir leaning over her. She gave the writer a smile, which Fakir easily returned out of relief.

"_I suppose it's now the time for farewell."_

The two looked up at Geier and Tutu who everyone but they and Mytho seemed to have forgotten were still there. Fakir thought, however, that perhaps the spirits had decided to block themselves from view to everyone but the ones they wanted to say final words to before departing.

"_Thank you, Fakir, Odette,"_ Geier murmured. _"Thank you for saving me."_

Tutu looked at Fakir seriously. _"Fakir…I want you to promise that you'll protect Siegfried and Odette for me."_

Fakir blinked in slight surprise. He glanced at both Mytho and Ahiru, and he smiled at the white-haired prima donna.

"I promise."

Tutu smiled. _"I trust you…I know your word is as steadfast as Lohengrin's."_

She then looked to Mytho and Ahiru. _"Take care of yourselves…and know that I'm very proud of you."_

Mytho's eyes filled up with tears that he resolutely kept from falling down his face. "Thank you, Kaa-san."

And with that, Geier took Tutu by the hand, and the two friends flew into the golden light in the sky. The light seemed to swell for a moment, before it disappeared without a trace.

It all became too much for Ahiru. She buried her face into Fakir's chest and began to cry.

The writer wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "Ahiru…"

Ahiru choked, trying to speak through her crying. "W-why did they both have to go? Why couldn't they…?"

"They don't belong in this world," Fakir answered quietly, stroking his fingers through her hair, which seemed to have come out of her bun sometime during the battle inside Geier's heart. "If Tutu and Geier stayed, they'd be like the Ghost Knight if they stayed, without purpose and without any sort of peace." Ahiru looked up at him as he brushed away her tears. "So don't cry for them, baka. They're in a better place now."

Ahiru sniffed and gave him a sad but grateful smile. "Thanks, Fakir…"

Rue and Demi both moved to Ahiru and gave her a friendly two-way hug.

"So are you free now, Ahiru-san?" Helios inquired.

"Yeah…" Ahiru assented vaguely, "…we _are_ all free, aren't we?"

Prometheus nodded amusedly. "Yes…and now we can finally leave this place."

"And go where?"

The group turned to Krishna, who seemed to have lost his enthusiasm at Prometheus's words.

"Cygnus is destroyed," the once-blackbird explicated sadly, "and our families are dead…where are we supposed to go?"

There was a silence. Then Mytho said,

"Rue and I went to Cygnus to scope out the damage in the hopes that we could rebuild it and expand our kingdom into it. You should know I would be more than happy to give you a home, as well as everything else you might need."

Li's eyes widened. "Ouji, you don't mean…"

Mytho nodded. "Come back with Rue and me…and be part of my royal court."

Rue nodded in agreement. "We would be honored to have you."

The once-cursed men looked amazed.

"_Siegfried-kun_…" Prometheus whispered in disbelief.

Then the four all practically tackled Mytho in unison, laughing and thanking him and mussing up his hair.

* * *

Helios and Demi's horse-drawn carriage rode off into the portal back to Theia and Rue and Mytho's swan carriage flew off into the portal to Cygnus with Prometheus, Krishna, Li and Carmen walking through after it.

Fakir then turned to Ahiru seriously. "Ahiru…are you _sure_ you want to stay?"

Ahiru blinked at him in confusion. "Of course I do."

Fakir looked down, a bit guilty and worried. "I wouldn't want to separate you from Mytho…I understand if you want to go back with him and Rue to Cygnus…after all, it was your home-"

"It was," Ahiru assented quietly.

There was a pause in which Fakir wondered if Ahiru had changed her mind.

"But…" Ahiru continued after a moment, "it's not anymore. I have a life here…with you in Kinkan Town."

Fakir stared at her, and she took his silence as a cue to continue.

"You promised me, in the Lake of Despair…that you'd always be by my side…what kind of person would I be not to return the promise? After everything we've been through…Fakir, you've become so important…enough to make me-"

Ahiru broke off, scared to finish.

'_Enough to make me love you…'_

Fakir's eyes darkened. "_What_?"

Ahiru tried to cover her abrupt silence. "I-I just mean that you-"

"You're afraid to say it," Fakir interrupted her sharply.

"Huh?"

"You're afraid to say that you love me," Fakir repeated, his voice growing a dangerous tone that made Ahiru feel nervous.

"N-_no_!" Ahiru tried to dissent. "I-I just don't-"

"You think after all the crap we've been through that I would let you _disappear_?" Fakir demanded, his eyes flashing. "You think after losing you once I would _ever_ let anything happen to you again?"

"_That's not it_!" Ahiru argued.

They held eye contact for a few moments. Finally Fakir spoke again, more calmly, but his eyes were still flaring passionately.

"Princess Tutu was fated to vanish…but didn't you just prove to everyone that you're not her? You did one thing she never could…save me and Geier from that raven."

He moved his face closer to hers, making it impossible for her to look away.

"I will _never_ let you disappear. I will write myself a million different deaths before I let you disappear."

His words, although still filled with some anger and a bit of desperation, nonetheless gave Ahiru courage. She took a deep, deep breath and prepared herself to choke out a whispered,

"I love you."

There was a long, long silence. At the end of it, nothing had happened.

"Was that so hard?" Fakir asked her quietly.

Ahiru relaxed, still a bit disbelieving. As if trying to make sure she wasn't dreaming, she repeated her statement, but a little louder.

"I love you."

Fakir tried to bite back a grin, but it proved difficult when Ahiru kept repeating her words louder and louder and with more excitement.

"I love you! I love you!"

"Baka," Fakir scorned amusedly.

"_I LOVE YOU_!"

The writer pulled the princess into his arms, twirling her around as she laughed out of pure relief and happiness, before he held her close.

"I love you too, baka," he laughed.

Ahiru gave him an odd look.

"_What_?" Fakir asked her, looking defensive.

"Nothing, it's just…I've never heard you laugh before," Ahiru pointed out, looking sheepish. "It's nice."

Fakir blinked, before he snorted in a mixture of amazement and scorn.

"Baka."

* * *

Drosslemeyer was not happy as he watched the romantic scene between Ahiru and Fakir in one of his gears.

"You must be _joking_…such a wonderful tragedy has be ruined like this? Oh, how dreadfully _happy_…"

Uzura, however, looked like it was her birthday. "_Oh_! Ahiru found her prince-zura! Fakir's Ahiru's lovey-dovey-zura!"

Suddenly a little boy with dark skin and yellow-green eyes peeked his head out from behind one of the gears in the gap of time, looking around curiously.

"Where am I?" Hato thought out loud, before calling, "_Daddy_? Where'd you go?"

With her interested little chirp of an _"Ohhhh", _Uzura leapt over a few of the gears to meet the stranger.

"Who are you-zura?"

"I'm Hato," the little boy introduced himself. "I was following Daddy around the prince's creepy old home, but somehow I got here. What is this place, anyway?"

"It's the inside of the story-zura," Uzura answered.

"Story? I like stories," Hato said cheerfully. "What's your name?"

"I'm Uzura-zura," the little puppet told him.

"Will you be my friend, Uzura Zura?" Hato asked, trying to be polite and obviously thinking _"Zura"_ was part of Uzura's name.

"What's a friend-zura?" Uzura inquired curiously.

"It's, um…" Hato pondered how to explain the word for a moment, before at last responding with, "It's being friendly with."

"_Oh_," Uzura murmured.

She then grinned a very wide, happy grin and began beating her drum excitedly. "Hooray! I've got a friendly-zura!"

The two children began laughing and fooling around inside the story, which clearly irritated the old storyteller still sitting in his armchair.

"Oh no, now I've got _two_ little brats running around inside my story and ruining things! If I really am in someone else's story, that person must really _hate_ me…"

He stood up from his chair, his hands in his pockets, as he started to walk further into the gap in time.

"I'm getting _sick_ of these happy endings…but I'm sure there must be some tragedy elsewhere to entertain me!"

Hato peered at the departing Drosslemeyer. "Who's he?"

"He's Drosslemeyer-zura," Uzura told him. "Let's follow him-zura!"

Hato laughed. "Sure!"

And so the children eagerly rushed after the storyteller. The three figures, one large and two small, moved further into the shadows of the gears amongst Uzura and Hato's cheerful laughter until they were finally out of sight.

* * *

A few days later, Fakir and Ahiru sat at their usual spots by the lake just as they had many times before. Ahiru had taken her shoes off at the dock and was wading her feet in the water, as Fakir bit the tip of his quill, which was hovering over a piece of paper as if poised to write.

"Damn it, I can't figure out how to _end_ it!" Fakir snapped suddenly.

Ahiru looked at him curiously. "How to end what?"

"Our story," Fakir answered impatiently. "I can't just say _'the princess and knight lived happily together for the rest of their lives_,' that's way too simple, and I wouldn't want to chain you to me were something bad to happen. We don't know where the story will go from here…what if I write something that I regret?"

Ahiru pulled her feet out of the water and got to her feet so that she could look over his shoulder at the page. It was headed with a fancy title of _The Duck with the Heart of a Girl_, and it broke off right after _"the writer and princess returned to the town of Kinkan."_

Ahiru frowned thoughtfully. "How about…"

She lay her hand on top of Fakir's still holding onto his quill, and Fakir looked at her in a mixture of surprise and confusion as she began to move his hand to write words on the page. His focus then moved to the page to read each new word they wrote together.

* * *

_**Together, the knight who became a writer and the duck who became a princess completed many more stories, both for themselves and others, and created many more happy endings. To the town they lived in, as well as everyone who met them, their life was a beautiful pas de deux that any normal person would dream of. They danced that pas de deux for the rest of their lives: a pas de deux of hope, happiness and love.**_

* * *

Fakir's face slowly broke out into a smile.

"Nice," he complimented lightly. "I should have you write with me more often."

When Ahiru turned to smile back at him, she suddenly felt Fakir's arm wrap around her waist and pull her to him. Ahiru lost balance and felt herself fall, before she found her lips rest on top of Fakir's.

Fakir smirked wryly into the kiss although his eyes were closed, and wrapped his other arm around her so that his hand could bury itself in her red hair.

His lips against hers were gentle, but they still held firmness and confidence that was very much like Fakir. The kiss itself seemed a simple gesture, but the emotions and warmth that invoked in Ahiru's heart made it the most special gesture she had ever known.

After a moment, Ahiru closed her eyes as well and kissed Fakir back.

* * *

_**Once upon a time there was a young man who started to write a story. The previous story he had written was one of himself and the princess that he loved, and it had a happy ending, even though as the tale unraveled that ending seemed impossible. The two lovers, true to the words the princess helped the young story spinner write, did indeed finish many more stories, always together, and gave many others happy endings. They fought alongside their allies, the swan prince, the raven princess and the rest, against common foes and helped retain peace in their kingdoms. The writer got the ending he desired for his and his princess's story…but that ending only just created a new beginning.**_

* * *

**Music Notes:**

"_**Transformation"**_**: starts when Ahiru's eyes blink open, with Geier's soul floating out of his body at 0:13. The music pauses at 0:15 for Ahiru and Geier's first exchange, and returns when Ahiru asks, "B-but…doesn't that mean…?" The music then pauses again at 0:46 before Geier starts his "You have such a kind heart," chain of speech, and returns after Tutu tells Geier she has forgiven him. Tutu and Geier's hug is at 0:52, Tutu starts speaking to Ahiru at 0:56, the gold light shines at 1:23 and Geier spreads his wings at 1:32. Ahiru glows yellow at 1:46, and Prometheus, Krishna, Carmen and Li glow after her at the four beats from 1:49 to 1:50. At 1:54, the four move into the circle around Geier and start spinning at 2:02. Geier brandishes his hand at Li and Carmen at 2:30, Krishna and Prometheus at 2:37 and finally Ahiru at 2:52. Krishna chokes at 3:03, Carmen jumps on Li at 3:29 and Prometheus grabs Krishna and twirls him around at 3:39. The music pauses at 3:51 as Fakir, Mytho and Ahiru turn to Tutu and Geier, and the music returns for Tutu's "I trust you" chain of speech to Fakir. Geier takes Tutu's hand at 3:59, and they fly into the light before it vanishes at 4:08. The music ends at 4:24 after Ahiru smiles gratefully at Fakir. **

"_**Only the Beginning of the Adventure"**_**: starts right after **_**"Transformation"**_** ends, with Rue and Demi hugging Ahiru. Helios asks, "So are you free now, Ahiru-san?" at 0:06, and Krishna says, "And go where?" at 0:17. Mytho starts speaking at 0:22, and he finishes, "…and be part of my royal court," at 0:38. The music ends at 0:45 right before the four hug Mytho. **

"_**Evacuating London"**_**: plays for Ahiru and Fakir's scene by the lake. Fakir first speaks at 0:10 and Ahiru takes hold of Fakir's hand at 0:39. They slowly create the ending together from 0:40 until 1:30. Ahiru starts to fall at 0:40, moving almost in slow motion, until she and Fakir kiss at 0:42. Ahiru kisses back and the narrator starts speaking as the vocalist first sings at 1:53, and the music fades out slowly until it finally ends in tandem with the narrator's tale at 2:37.**

**The piece **_**"Transformation"**_** is from the **_**"Beauty and the Beast"**_** original motion picture soundtrack.**

**The pieces**_** "Only the Beginning of the Adventure" **_**and **_**"Evacuating London" **_**are****from **_**"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"**_** soundtrack.**


	20. Author's Closing Words

_**Author's Closing Words:**_

_**Once upon a time there was a writer who finished a story…**_

And was very depressed about it, let me tell you! (sweatdrop) All right, all right, sorry…had to insert some humor to keep myself from crying…um…

I'm very honored for all of the approval I've received for this story, whether in favorites, alerts or reviews. As I have said to many of you reviewers, I only try, and I'm delighted my tries were enough to interest you! I'm so glad all of you enjoyed it.

I suppose I should first thank the people who reviewed this story throughout its progression…

**Astrobright68**

**Archangel Rhapsody**

**Greece**

**fakiagirl**

**Chizz-muffinChik**

**claire**

**Siriaca-Ying-Fa**

**Thoughtless7**

**KairiTwin**

**Mangaka-chan**

**khgurl94**

**SAChan23**

**vh fanel**

**jbramx2**

**doragon no mizu**

**meepers369**

**HaleySings**

**beybladegal24**

**Nitchu Mikata**

**Unknown**

**Keahi Spitfire**

**kristal**

**riku**

**Eccentricai**

**layalatania**

**Manda-chan**

**ChibiVi3tKitsun3**

**Fairy Dust Angel**

**Pretearwings**

**Deerdryad**

**Romancerox**

**Emey Troi**

**purpleeyednekoyoukai**

**darklily16**

**SGCred**

Out of those people, I would especially like to give a shout-out to my new friends from the Princess Tutu LJ community, Manda-chan, Astrobright68, HaleySings and especially Mangaka-chan, who has been my personal critic throughout this story's development. I also would like to give hugs and kisses to my wonderful bud SGCred, who is one of the sweetest people I know and who looked into Princess Tutu because I asked her to. I dedicate this fic to you.

Despite my bias and extreme love for my friends, I truly wouldn't have been as driven to write this story were it not for all of my readers' positive responses and helpful critiques. I love reading all of your opinions every time I update, and it's because of you all that I'm not giving up on writing Tutu fanfiction. Likely any stories I write won't be as good as this…but I can always try!

Arigatou gozaimashu, minna! Thank you so much, everyone.

Lots and Lots of Love From

the1koolkitty

_**All those beautiful people,**_

_**I want to have them all,**_

_**All those porcelain models:**_

_**If only I could make them fall…**_

_**Be my heart a well of love,**_

_**Flowing free so far above…**_

_**A wintry eve, once upon a tale,**_

_**An Ugly Duckling**_

_**Lost in a verse of a sparrow's carol,**_

_**Dreaming the stars…**_

_**Be my heart a well of love,**_

_**Flowing free so far above…**_

_**In my world, love is for poets,**_

_**Never the famous balcony scene:**_

_**Just a dying faith on a heaven's gate…**_

_**Crystal pond awaits the lorn;**_

_**Tonight another morn for the lonely one is born. **_

**-"Swanheart,"by Nightwish**


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